Help wanted: Here, there, everywhere

Unable to find enough workers to staff a second shift, Lima Avenue Rootbeer Stand is open only from late morning to midafternoon, manager Jennifer Ramm said this week. Tim Hortons, on Interstate Court, planned to have four people working, plus a baker one recent day. But only two employees plus a baker made it to work that day, said assistant manager Krysta Wright. "We had somebody today just not show up," she said. In some cases, people get more money drawing unemployment compensation — the state benefit plus a federal top off because of the pandemic — than they would earn working. Some employers blame that for the shortage of people willing to work. "They're all just living on it," Ramm said. "A lot of these businesses can't pay their employees $700 per week." Employers, especially those in restaurants and retail, are having difficulty getting fully staffed. But even manufacturers are challenged to get fully staffed. "Probably the same as every employer in town, we're looking for people," said Ken Lee, senior vice president of operations for Hitachi Astemo, formerly Nissin Brake. "Want to get people back to work after all of the COVID slowdowns and shortages." In some cases, people are staying away from work because of unemployment compensation, employment experts said. Health, family concerns The federal government for over a year has added an unemployment benefit to top off what states provided in the pandemic. But a more generous unemployment benefit is not the only reason some people have been more reluctant to return to work, said Erica Groshen, senior economics advisor for Cornell University's Industrial and Labor Relations School in Ithaca, New York. "We have seen some decline in labor force participation. It doesn't seem to be linked to the benefits so much," Groshen said. "People with underlying health conditions are ones who are staying home more. People who are taking care of children are staying home more." She cited a couple of groups that have had the biggest decline in labor force participation: • Those near retirement, or 60 to 70 years of age. Many have underlying health conditions. Others, even without a health condition, were near retirement anyway, Groshen said. • African American and Hispanic women. Groshen said that many of those who have not returned to a job likely are single-parents who have needed to stay home to take care of children. "We have had a lot of day care centers close down, elder care centers close down," she said. "You have people staying home because they have to take care of the loved ones of various kinds." The goal of public policy at the start of the pandemic and even into this year has been to slow down activity, she said. "We intentionally put our economy in a medically induced coma to stop the spread (of coronavirus) and give us a little breathing room to get other policies and approaches in place," Groshen said. "We wanted people to stay home. It wasn't an unintended consequence. In fact, the idea was, we were telling people to stay home and we didn't want them to starve while they were staying home." In fact, the federal top off to state unemployment compensation benefits may have had some upside for some small businesses, she said. "A lot of the customers of small businesses are low-income people," Groshen said. "Whether you're talking about grocery stores or hair dressing salons or whatever, they have benefited from the ability of their customers to continue to be customers." She acknowledged that many restaurants have been struggling. Most of those have been the ones in central business districts, which have seen fewer commuters with so many people working from home, Groshen said. "But you don't see that much of a decline in business in the residential areas, particularly in some residential areas that are poor because the rescue packages have enabled people to continue to buy groceries and other goods, things like that," Groshen said. 'Not a good policy' To be sure, some workers received a more generous heap of benefits than others in the Pandemic Recession. At least one manufacturing company in Hancock County participated in SharedWork Ohio, a voluntary program to help employers avoid layoffs. Instead of laying off workers, employers participating in SharedWork Ohio could reduce workers to, say, 30 hours per week instead of 40. Those same workers then would receive state unemployment benefits for the other 10 hours per week. They also received the federal unemployment compensation top off — $600 weekly for a while, then reduced to $300 weekly — enacted for the Pandemic Recession, said Susan Houseman, vice president and director of research at Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, Kalamazoo, Michigan. In at least one case in Hancock County, "(the employees) made more money working 30 hours plus the 10 hours from the state versus just a regular 40 hours from the company," said Tim Mayle, director of Findlay-Hancock County Economic Development. Needless to say, the situation enabled the local company to keep its talented workers through the economic storm, which is one of the reasons SharedWork Ohio was created. But when things improved and the company wanted workers to return to 40 hours per week, there was grumbling among employees. "It's almost certainly the case that the pushback is coming from the fact that they're making more than they used to. And if they were to go back full time, they would likely lose some wages and they would have to work more," Houseman said. "They have no right to those (SharedWork Ohio) benefits. If the employer says 'I need you back full time now,' they're not entitled to the benefits. The employer completely controls that. The problem for your employer is the morale effects, and that's probably where the resistance is coming from." The cluster of unemployment benefits was "not a good policy," she said. "What's the solution? Fundamentally, it's about investing in updating the unemployment insurance system." Wilin: 419-427-8413