American businesses, specifically restaurants, have become perplexed and concerned over the lack of employees who want to get back to working in the industry. As more states inoculate citizens with the COVID-19 and relax restrictions, more restaurants and businesses are gearing up to a full return after a year of closure.
But employees seem to think otherwise. There has been an increase in the number of people who don't want to go back to work because the government pays them to stay home through its stimulus checks.
The Epoch Times reported that restaurant owners across New York, California, Washington, and Chicago are concerned over the lack of people who are looking for a job, whether to serve as cashiers or wait on tables. This causes a major challenge for restaurants who are looking to open back up their doors following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over 110,000 restaurants across America were affected by the pandemic, with some closing permanently. With the hope of opening back up, however, comes the challenge of re-hiring people as they no longer want to go back to work because the government pays them to stay home. The stimulus checks are reportedly higher than the regular paycheck a typical restaurant worker receives.
The National Restaurant Association (NRA) has reported a major increase in hiring challenges. In January 7% of restaurants reported that recruitment and retention of employees were a top challenge. The figure rose to 57% in April. New York City restaurateur Mark Fox, who owns four bistros in the city but hails from Dublin, believes that the enhanced unemployment benefits are the biggest factor contributing to the difficulty in hiring new staff this season.
Fox believes that these enhanced unemployment benefits, which will be provided through September this year, were necessary at the beginning of the pandemic, but not now, when the economy is eager to open back up.
"It's not financially beneficial for [people] to return to work. So we're in a real crisis with respect to labor shortfall," Fox argued. "I think there was a distrust from the state government. A lot of people lost their businesses and lost their livelihoods and their dreams because of it and I think it's an American tragedy."
Over in Texas, restaurateurs are facing the same challenge: people don't want to go back to work because of the stimulus checks that are keeping them afloat despite being unemployed. Chad Offerdahl, president of the Overland Park-based chain The Big Biscuit, is facing a big dilemma. While demand for dining out is "coming back" and even "surging," the supply of workers is not. The Kansas City Star reported that it could even get worse in the summer.
"We've never had a hiring drought like this before. This is new territory for us," Offerdahl admitted. The reason behind the lack of people looking to get hired is that some employees left the food industry to find work elsewhere or have chosen to remain unemployed, supporting themselves with the government's stimulus checks.
"No doubt we are up against unemployment that has been artificially increased and stimulus payments that give people opportunity not to show up for work," Offerdahl concluded.
