Some of America’s biggest companies are hinting the labor shortage is ending for them Over the last year, companies have complained about labor shortages and difficulty hiring. With fears that the economy is cooling off, firms are cutting costs — for some that means cutting workers. Some companies see those reductions as permanent, a far cry from labor shortages of the past year. For over a year, companies have had one big complaint: Nobody wants to work anymore. Now, though, the tide seems to be turning. Firms have shifted to talking about getting rid of their staff to save costs, and becoming leaner. Lyft''s chief financial officer Elaine Paul said in an earnings call that the company has "materially pulled back on hiring." Walmart''s first quarter earnings call in May saw CEO Doug McMillon saying that the company was overstaffed after employees came back to work from Covid leave sooner than expected. "We hired more associates at the end of last year to cover for those on leave, so we ended up with weeks of overstaffing," he explained. "That issue was resolved during the quarter primarily through attrition." In other words, overstaffing was solved by people leaving — something that runs contrary to the narrative that companies are eager to hire and can''t find anyone.