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Listing for March 22.

The Pandemic Has Made a Big Problem That Much Worse Help Wanted Long before COVID-19 arrived in Western Mass., businesses across many sectors were struggling to find adequate supplies of good help. But now, just as the economy seems ready to surge, the problem, fueled increasingly by unemployment benefits that are conspiring to keep workers on the sidelines, is getting considerably worse, with no real end in sight.   Steve Corrigan has been in the landscaping business for more than 40 years now, and for most of that time, finding good help has been a challenge — to one degree or another. B...

Raising the (price of the) roof: Price of lumber, building materials up 180% in the last year — here’s why Updated 5:54 AM; Today 5:00 AM Luis Santos works in the lumber yard of A. Boilard Sons, Inc. in Springfield, April 9, 2021. (Don Treeger / The Republican) Facebook Share SPRINGFIELD — A 2-by-4 that cost $2.25 a year ago now sells for $5 or more. The price of a 4-foot-by-8-foot sheet of drywall that sold for $6 last year is now over $8. And a sheet of plywood the same size that sold for $26 last year is now pushing $80. The price of lumber and other building materials has nearly ...