Hospitality workers on edge, wondering if jobs will come back
For much of the last year, Claudia Sandoval worried she might lose her house.
In the early days of the pandemic, when travel and group events came to a grinding halt in March, she lost her job as a banquet cook at Delta Hotel by Marriott in northeast Minneapolis. Her bills began piling up.
She was able to pay her mortgage with her unemployment benefits. She prioritized other bills, signing up for payment plans so her utilities wouldn't be cut off. She visited food shelves to help feed her two children. And her $3,800 property tax bill that she was already behind on? That had to wait.
"It's been stressful," said Sandoval, 36, of Maplewood, Minn. "Not knowing what tomorrow will bring and not knowing what's happening. Not knowing if you can depend on any money coming in. It's been the worst."
The pandemic led to job losses in pretty much every sector of the economy. But because it curtailed in-person socializing, no sector has been as hard-hit as leisure and hospitality.
The sector remains in a deep hole, with nearly 4 million fewer jobs nationally. In January, the unemployment rate in leisure and hospitality was 15.9%, more than double the national rate, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
"It's definitely the industry that's suffered the most," said Steve Grove, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED).
For restaurant workers, it's been a year of whiplash. When the pandemic hit, many found themselves suddenly jobless as restaurants quickly shut down. Some returned to work when indoor dining resumed at lower capacities in the summer, only to be out again as COVID-19 cases surged in late fall, prompting the state to restrict indoor dining again for a couple of months.
For hotel workers, there haven't been many callbacks yet not even for a few months. Some have found other jobs. Others wait in limbo, hoping to still return to their previous jobs as they juggle paying rent and other bills with unemployment insurance.
Those jobless benefits were extended by Congress in December. They are set to expire next month, though a new federal stimulus could extend them through summer.
Sandoval sighs when asked what she's thinking of doing next. A single mother whose children have been at home remote schooling for most of the last year, it's been hard to think about taking another job.
When $600 in stimulus money showed up in her account in January, she exhaled and immediately used it to finish paying off her property taxes. But since then, her car broke down and required $4,000 in repairs.
The hotel where she worked is still closed and told employees last year it planned to reopen in March. But she hasn't heard anything since. Having been a cook for so many years, the idea of finding a job in another field that might require other skills is daunting for her.
"This is all I know," she said. "Right now, I'm just hoping they reopen soon."
More than half of restaurants, bars and hotels said in December they won't be solvent in six months if current business conditions continue, a survey of Minnesota businesses by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Hospitality Minnesota and Explore Minnesota found.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz earlier this month allowed indoor wedding receptions and other private parties to have 50 people, up from 10. Other indoor events can now have up to 250 people, up from 150, at 25% capacity. Restaurants and bars must continue to operate at half capacity but can stay open an hour later, until 11 p.m.
"It's a step in the right direction," said Ken Jarka, general manager of the Minneapolis Hilton, the state's largest hotel. "But for my size property, it's not going to have a big effect on my business."
With large ballrooms and proximity to the Minneapolis Convention Center, nearly two-thirds of the hotel's business is tied to large group events. The hotel, which employed about 500 before the pandemic, is down to 28 employees. It's operating at between 2 and 10% occupancy, Jarka said.
He would like Walz to provide a framework or timeline for further opening up to reassure planners they can hold their events in Minnesota this summer and fall.
"There's no plan to open up that we can provide these customers to say, 'Come!' " Jarka said.
Leaders of UNITE HERE Local 17, the union that represents hospitality workers at Twin Cities-area hotels, stadiums and the airport, estimate that about 80 to 90% of the union's 6,000 members haven't returned to work yet. A majority of them are women and people of color.
To support those workers, the union is advocating that the state and municipalities pass proposals that would require large hotels and event centers to recall former workers first before hiring others through next year. Baltimore, Los Angeles and Philadelphia have passed similar ordinances.
With vaccines rolling out, some leisure and hospitality jobs should start bouncing back. Grove said he expects cooped-up Minnesotans to seek out experiences they've missed in the past year.
"We're hopeful that consumer confidence will come back and that people will get out and go to restaurants and go to hotels," he said.