For business in 2022, ‘drifting to the new normal’ more likely than ‘recovery’

For businesses that managed to weather the pandemic’s cataclysmic labor shortages, shutdowns, supply chain constraints and inflation, what looms ahead in 2022 can either make or break them.

Frank Kerbein, director of the Business Council of New York State’s Center for Human Resources, said the pandemic has been the “most dramatic business interruption” he’s seen in his lifetime. Despite being two years in, the virus isn’t letting up.

Government funding helped many stay viable, but the coronavirus’ blowback is ongoing. Omicron or other potential variants have the potential to forge another shutdown or easily scare people away from what businesses have worked so hard to maintain.

“The uncertainty is what really harms businesses,” Kerbein said.

Kerbein believes chain stores would make it over the hump. But mom-and-pop shops that people have gone to with their families for forever and…

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