Benefits blamed for shortage of workers

As economy rebounds, employers struggle to refill their ranks

Ted’s Fish Fry will close its seven locations on Sundays. The reason? It can’t find enough workers.

Candidates “aren’t even coming in,” said one manager. “They’re giving them all the money to stay home,” he said, referring to the $300 supplemental benefits the federal government pays on top of the state’s unemployment benefit check.

In Lake George, “we’ve had some restaurants talk about going to five days a week,” said Gina Mintzer, who heads the Lake George Regional Chamber of Commerce. “They lack the staff.”

The nation’s economy is coming back to life after more than a year of lockdown. But some of the hardest-hit sectors during the pandemic were leisure and hospitality, and accommodation and food services. In the fivecounty Albany metro area, the number of jobs in the two sectors was down over the year by 19.2 percent and 20.8 percent, respectively, according to state Labor Department figures. Together, they represent the loss of 13,700 jobs locally.

Nationwide, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday that there were 8.1 million job openings across the country at the end of March, the highest figure in records going back to December 2000.

Early in the pandemic, employers furloughed a large share of the workforce as leisure travel ground to a halt and retail businesses and workplaces closed their doors. There were few jobs to be had, and people who weren’t in essential occupations were told to stay home.

But with vaccines becoming widely available and business conditions returning to normal, critics say continuing supplemental federal unemployment benefits may be slowing the recovery.

U.S. Labor Secretary Martin Walsh, in a conference call Tuesday afternoon with reporters, argued against that notion.

“Are businesses saying this $300 prevents them from being successful? Walsh asked. “I don’t see it. The president doesn’t see it.”

Walsh said the administration had done much to help restaurants and other businesses. “Most Americans would rather be working,” he added.

“Any worker in America, if they turn down a suitable job, they can lose their unemployment benefits,” Walsh said. A suitable job, he said, would be one that matches a worker’s skills and work experience and provides a safe workplace.

“They can’t just arbitrarily turn down the work,” Walsh

added.

The state Labor Department agreed. A spokesperson said recipients of unemployment benefits must certify that they’re available to work, actively looking, and that they have a search plan. The Labor Department also maintains a database of job openings that currently has more than 152,000 positions. The Jobs Express website may be found at https://statistics.labor.ny.gov/career-zone/jobs-express.shtml

Even some of the region’s largest employers have struggled to fill positions. Six Flags Great Escape theme park in Queensbury still has a number of openings despite virtual and drivethrough job fairs and weeks of online recruiting.

“(W)e have yet to meet our hiring goal for this season, but with our excellent hiring incentives and easy application process, we hope to be the employer of choice,” spokesman Jason Lee said Tuesday. Two drive-through job fairs drew a total of 21 applicants.

Six Flags continues to recruit, and applicants can visit sixflagsjobs.com to apply.

Lee said Great Escape was looking for job candidates at all experience levels, from college students to senior citizens. Its Work & Travel program, meanwhile, is bringing in 100 students from overseas under the J-1 visa program.

But the restaurant business has, perhaps, been hit hardest, first with lengthy shutdowns, then with sharp limits on occupancy and the risks of COVID -19.

“The restaurants suffered through the pandemic,” the Ted’s Fish Fry manager said. “Now, they’re suffering because they can’t find workers.”