Restaurant and hospitality offer thousands of jobs that nobody wants: "We don't know where the candidates are"

Waiters, hosts, cooks, kitchen assistants ... The hospitality and food industry needs thousands of jobs as the vaccination process advances and the economy reactivates throughout the United States after a year of COVID crisis 19. But the attempt by restaurants and hotels to regain 100% operation has uncovered a surprising new reality:

staff shortages.

Businesses that were forced in 2020 to close their doors, minimize services, reduce payroll or temporarily lay off their employees are

 now not getting employees back to work

or new people filling openings. 

37% of small companies in the hospitality and food sectors affirm that

their operational capacity is being affected

by the lack of availability of workers, according to the information website Axios.

And it is a general problem of the entire economy: 16% of small businesses across the country report this problem, which illustrates the concern that persists about the risk of coronavirus in closed spaces. 

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"After a whole year of waiting, customers are clamoring to return to restaurants, and businesses have invested in expanding their premises to offer outdoor areas,

so they require more employees

at this time, but they cannot find them", said Alice Cheng of Culinary Agents.

Of the

22 million jobs lost during the pandemic

, 13 million have already been recovered, or 60%.

More than 916,000 jobs were created in March, the highest number since August 2020, and the unemployment rate fell by 6%, the Labor Department reported.

However, the hospitality industry continues to show a lack of interest from workers.

"This is definitely a crisis,"

said Carlos Gazitua, owner of the Sergio's Cuban Cafe & Grill restaurant chain, when asked by the Chicago Tribune newspaper.

"We cannot find people and we do not know where the candidates are," he lamented. 

According to the projections of the Federal Reserve, the US economy will register a growth of 6% this year due to the reactivation driven by the stimulus packages.

However, some restaurant owners

blame these government grants for the labor shortage

, claiming that people prefer to stay home and pocket the money effortlessly.

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Only a small part of those who left the labor market as a result of COVID-19 want or can have a job right now, said a study published by The Wall Street Journal.

Up to 2.6 million people were not working at the beginning of March because they were sick

or

were

caring for someone who was, and 4.2 million said they were afraid of contracting or spreading the virus.

Millions are also caring for children, but it is unclear how many were due to the pandemic closures.

There is also talk of excess offers

.

"Everyone is reopening at the same time and that means everyone is hiring at the same time, which makes it harder to find workers," Cheng said.

The second week of April saw the lowest number of new applications for unemployment assistance since the pandemic began.

In total there were 576,000 requests.

However, almost 17 million people still receive this benefit.

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According to the Federal Reserve, although the unemployment rate of 6% is lower than in 2009, it

is above 9%

if you add people who do not count as unemployed because they have left the workforce or have been misclassified.

The Federal Reserve this month reported shortages of drivers, entry-level, low-wage and skilled workers, childcare and information technology personnel, skilled trades and nurses.

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This is consistent with what the ZipRecruiter job site reflects on job postings.

Truckers, nurses, salespeople and managers are some of the jobs most in demand during the economic recovery in the United States.

Driving trucks is by far the most requested task, with

 more than 1.3 million jobs

 open for different types of drivers, from semi-trailers to local delivery.

Hiring is also strong in the nursing sector with 320,000 job openings.

Retail is trying to staff itself to open its doors with nearly 270,000 open jobs.

The pandemic has affected both the demand for workers, since companies closed, and the supply, since workers withdrew because they got sick or needed to take care of their children.

The difference with what happened in 2008-2009,

according to the newspaper The Wall Street Journal

,

 is that the financial crisis at that time eliminated wealth and dried up credit, which undermined the demand for goods and services as consumers stopped buying. spending, and workers, since employers stopped hiring.

With information from Axios, The Wall Street Journal, and the Chicago Tribune.