Experts continually debate what has led to the ongoing labor shortage in America. The question is how much have unemployment benefits discouraged people from working?

The recent resurgence of COVID is disrupting schools and hurt a number of job searches and additional unemployment benefits being provided by the federal government are commonly brought up as reasons for the labor shortage.

Whatever the case may be, there’s a growing gap between job openings and hiring showing that companies are struggling to find workers.

Meanwhile, according to reports, Americans' minimum salary expectations shot upwards in July.

A new Federal Reserve report shows, the average reservation wage is up over seven percent in July than from last year, down slightly from March of 2021.

Also, we see most workers expected an annual salary of job offers in the next four months to be close to $60,000 A significant rise from last July.

Many have blamed the expanded federal jobless aid. It added an extra $300 a week on top of regular state benefits for unemployed workers.  Others continue to point to concerns over COVID.