Markets are frustrated as the Fed offers no guidance on the post-pandemic economy

For Rick Plympton, there is no going back to the pre-pandemic economy. The CEO of precision lens maker Optimax Systems sees “sandwiches” in many aspects of his business.

It is difficult to find enough workers, prices for key supplies fluctuate more, and there are longer delays between ordering equipment and presenting it at the company's workshop in Ontario, New York. There is also increased support in Washington for the U.S. chip manufacturing industry using Optimax lenses as politicians sense a changing geopolitical landscape.

Plympton believes many of these changes are not temporary. Tight labor markets “will be with us for decades to come,” he says.