Food retailers might not see their hiring struggles improve any time soon, per data from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. According to a November poll of the unemployed, fewer than half of U.S. workers who lost their jobs during the pandemic and remain unemployed are actively and consistently looking for work. The federal government reports 600,000 people joined the workforce in November, resulting in a labor-force participation rate increase to 61.8%, the highest level since March 2020. The unemployment rate fell to 4.2%.