My friend Yishan Wong started a very interesting thread on Twitter, hypothesizing that the labor shortage (and hence the inflation) could be largely attributed to the million+ covid deaths and a much sicker population where tens of millions people are experiencing medium- and long-term impact of the disease.
A great data point: https://www.npr.org/2022/07/31/1114375163/long-covid-longhaulers-disability-labor-ada