Washington, Nov 7 (IANS): The Covid-19 pandemic, as well as gun violence and drug overdoses, have caused lasting damage to the US workforce over the last two years, media have recently reported.

Almost 4.3 million people quit their jobs in August, the Labor Department said.

Nearly 900,000 people left their jobs at hotels and restaurants, while another 1.3 million quit retailers, and healthcare and social assistance employers, Labor Department data showed.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, some 747,000 Americans have died of the coronavirus as of November 4, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In addition, the CDC data showed that a record 93,331 people died of drug overdoses in the United States in 2020, almost 30 per cent up from 2019, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to Gun Violence Archive, gun-related deaths reached almost 44,000 in 2020 and nearly 38,000 deaths in the United States so far this year.

Meanwhile, 2 million more people retired than expected, according to the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis.