Unemployment numbers from the U.S. Labor Department show that many Americans are not ready to go back to work yet.
Experts said there are a number of reasons at play — unemployment payments, stimulus checks, child care issues and fear of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, small business owners are suffering from no profits, little-to-no staff and mounting expenses. And the price is being passed along to consumers like you.
What You Need To Know
- Some workers are not returning to work as federal unemployment payments, coupled with state unemployment payments, is greater than their usual income
- Prices on goods and services are soaring as employers increase wages to attract employees
- Many companies are offering large sign-on bonuses and flexible schedules as incentives
- Common practices like pre-employment drug testing, background checks and education requirements are falling by the wayside as businesses go for people that are willing to show up
Businesses like United Auto Supply, run by James Ranalli, need workers back on the job.
“We have lots of wonderful customers that need parts," Ranalli said. "They need them in a timely fashion. And it’s slowed us down from being to where we want to be, for sure."
Ranalli points to a very active assembly line.
"These people are all packing individual orders for customers that need to go in a two to three-hour window from receipt of order," he said. "This is why we run 20 hours a day, seven days a week. We are 30 locations all across New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania. We are hiring at all of them.”
Ranalli and his team, as well employers nationwide, are getting creative with schedules, competitive pay and benefits packages.
“We’ve tried to accommodate people’s work-life balance by offering four days on, three days off," Ranalli said. "If no one will work for a dollar, you better go to two and if no one will work for two, you better go to three. The problem is, though, it causes inflation quickly. Globally, the workforce has caused everything to go up in price. You look at what a two-by-four used to cost. Used to cost $2 to $3. Now it’s $8 to $9. That is naturally been passed along.”
Karen Walser is the senior vice president of Staffworks. She has clients looking to fill hundreds of jobs.
“We look at who’s available, who wants to go to work," she said.
They’ve never seen demand like this. There are a lot of stories about how heated the competition is for workers.
Tayler Fravel is a client manager at Staffworks who recently offered a job to a woman.
“Within a 32-hour period, she called me on her way to orientation this morning and she said she had to decline the position," Fravel said. "She said she got another job offer paying 30 cents more per hour closer to home. Just like that, she was gone.”
Walser said it’s a numbers game. Demand for jobs is high right now so candidates should act quickly to get the best positions, pay and incentives before that demand goes down.
“Be part of the solution and get back to work," Walser said. "And contribute to the economy and the community and do not wait for those stimulus checks and the unemployment checks to dry up.”
Here are some helpful links for job seekers.