The slow post-pandemic reopening, combined with federal stimulus benefits, are creating "substantial distortions" in the economy, DoubleLine Capital founder Jeffrey Gundlach said Tuesday.

Nationwide, businesses of all sizes are struggling to hire enough employees to get up and running. There are "lots and lots of jobs that are open but can't get filled because of the government competing with private enterprise," said the investor, whom Barron's has called "the new bond king." He hosted a 90-minute webinar Tuesday in which he laid out his views on the post-pandemic economy.

Inflation is on the rise, Gundlach noted, but that may be temporary. Food prices are high, and manufacturing inventories are the lowest they've been in some 20 years. "That's not exactly likely to put downward pressure on prices," he quipped.