Companies are rolling out perks at a feverish clip to lure employees.

Why it matters: The economy is roaring back. Companies are pulling out all stops to win over the workers they need to meet demand.

What’s happening: Walmart and Target say they will pay tuition for certain college programs for millions of employees.

• Businesses are also offering extended time off, free Pelotons or one-time bonuses to attract workers — and keep the ones they have.

Yes, but: What’s actually enticing workers is the most old-fashioned perk: higher wages.

• "After we made our announcement [to raise pay] back in April, we're getting close to full staffing levels,” McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski told investors.

The intrigue: Nearly 2 in 3 workers say they are looking for a new job, per a new survey by PwC. Employees said more money was the top reason they considered quitting.

• The survey also finds a huge gulf between what employees want and what companies are offering.
• Touting company values and culture, plus offering location flexibility, are the most common ways employers say they are trying to retain and attract workers.
• But that’s on the bottom of the priority list for employees. At the top: more flexible schedules, higher pay and expanded benefits.

By the numbers: Employers are meeting the moment by steadily raising wages. In July, pay was 4% higher than this time last year.

• Wages in the hospitality sector — where worker shortage complaints are most acute — are 10% higher from last July as hiring rebounds.

A sobering stat from researchers at the Census Bureau this week: The student debt racial divide is so stark that Black adults who didn’t finish college were just as likely to carry student debt as white adults with advanced degrees.

• The data gives a detailed look at student debt holders in the years preceding the pandemic.

🚘 GM is expanding its recall of Chevy Bolt EVs to include all models due to potential fire risks. (AP)

❌ The Fed said its Jackson Hole conference next week will go virtual because of the “recently elevated COVID-19 risk level.” (Tweet)

Illumina CEO Francis deSouza tells Axios that his company is not trying to defy U.S. or European regulators by completing its $7.1 billion purchase of cancer testing company Grail, despite doing so amidst ongoing government reviews, Axios’ Dan Primack reports.

Backstory: The two parties agreed to merge last September, to combine the maker of blood tests that can detect multiple cancers with the maker of gene sequencers upon which such tests were developed.

• The FTC in March sued to block the deal, but it dropped an earlier injunction request because it (wrongly) believed an ongoing European regulatory review would prevent the merger from closing.

Why close now? DeSouza argues that his company's hand was forced by recent news that the Europeans are unlikely to reach its conclusions until sometime in the first quarter of 2022.

• If Illumina does ultimately lose in either the U.S. or in Europe, it would either seek a buyer for Grail or take it public, deSouza says.
• "We deeply believe by moving forward there are lots of lives to be saved, around 10,000 just in the U.S. in the nine-year period after the companies are combined," he adds.

Look ahead: An administrative trial on the FTC lawsuit kicks off next week.

Full story.

Elon Musk says a Tesla robot is coming.

• The humanoid “Tesla bot” will be built with the same technology that powers Tesla's self-driving features.
• A prototype could come next year, though announcements like these from Musk typically don’t happen on the timeline predicted, if at all, as CNBC notes.

Musk says this robot wasn’t conceived to help in Tesla factories.

• "It should be able to, you know, please go to the store and get me the following groceries, that kind of thing," Musk said.
• The announcement was made during the company’s “AI Day” on Thursday.

"[I]f people avoided SPACs instead of avoiding COVID vaccines, the US would be both wealthier and closer to herd immunity."