Hospital nurses, for example, have recently won big wage increases, showing that shortages of essential workers do eventually force wages up.

Not one region has received the federal money it needs to pay pensions and salaries for essential workers.

Many of the town's essential workers were Palestinians.

Pay for essential workers like plumbers and cabdrivers will tend to go up, he said.

The employers' alternative would be to watch the departure of many essential workers, including technicians, managers and professionals.

"If they wait more than a quarter, they will have an outflow" of essential workers.

The ranks of essential workers clearly included many who work in the region's hospitals.

Their ranks include essential workers and scores of employees whom managers say they will not be sorry to see leave.

Chrysler has adopted a limited hiring freeze, adding only essential workers like engineers.

This was the daily food ration for the average resident of Leningrad, though essential workers got twice that.