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Meat Prices Will Continue to Surge If Meatpackers Can't Find Workers Fast

Recruiting is only getting harder for a U.S. industry that demands grueling work and has the taint of deadly Covid outbreaks.

Photographer: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

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With the pandemic igniting a collective reassessment of work, imagine posting openings for low-wage jobs that could require standing for 12-hour shifts, working six-day weeks and repeatedly lifting 70-pound objects in conditions that range from steaming hot to bloody and ice cold. And on top of all that, your industry recently made headlines for Covid-19 outbreaks that killed workers.

This is precisely what meatpackers are facing.