Office occupancy has continued to be a worry for investors, owners, operators, and even tenants who want workers back in the office. It has generally risen of late, with the first quarter showing higher rates and rents. But even then, there's enough vacant office square footage that it could take nearly three years to absorb all of it, and that's assuming widespread physical obsolescence doesn't push people away and drive rents down to a point where many buildings may no longer be financially viable.

CBRE Research says that the so-called Great Resignation—an historically large voluntary departure of people from their jobs—is making employee acquisition and retention more difficult and, as a result, putting even more pressure on occupancy rates.

The numbers can be concerning, whether the "with 0.6 people available to fill each open job, as of December 2021" or "labor force participation at an all-time low and record numbers of Americans quitting despite rising wages."