re: Why are so many employers not able to get or keep employees?

Basically the entire bottom third of the labor market has given up trying and is content just fricking around in perpetuity. They see no path toward the middle or upper class so don't even bother. The top two thirds are still working as intended.

There used to be an obligation to work well. Even the shite employees at food service jobs felt the need to be professional and try to deliver positive service to customers. This obligation meant some people did better than others, and through that there was a path toward upward mobility. This path takes time to develop.

In the last few years a complete "frick the customer" has overtaken a lot of lower class employees and they never have to bother to try because they know even if they do get fired they could get a random job somewhere else for a few days.