Despite the COVID health emergency coming to an end this week and unemployment continuing to fall nationally, labor shortages remain especially in the leisure and hospitality industries, which is leaving businesses in places like Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, worried about the summer months when tourism is expected to rebound to pre-pandemic levels.
Business is going well for The Candy Corner on Ocean Boulevard these days and it’s expected to get even sweeter with the summer-like weather hitting the region. Tourists are starting to flock to the popular New England beach destination.
“When we’re busy we can go for five or six people here,” said The Candy Corner owner Bill Statires, referring to the number of employees he hires.
But that’s been particularly difficult even as the pandemic winds down, with help still suffering from its effects.
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“Right now it’s tough we usually get some local kids from Hampton but they’re busy with sports, this-and-that. Right now, nobody’s coming around,” he said.
Down the strip at Boardwalk Inn and Cafe, they also need a hand. Competition to snatch workers seems tougher than ever.
“Everyone needs help,” said manager Michael Trainor. “So, it turns into almost a pricing. You know, I’ll offer a guy -- and then someone else offers an extra two dollars.”
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Keeping the seasonal workers Trainor already has, is a must, including workers like Farah Bueno, a college student who is back for a third summer to work as a hostess at the café.
“What I love about here is that you feel like family you feel like home, they make you feel comfortable, and then make sure that this place is the place that you want to be in,” said Bueno.
Hiring workers from other countries to fill seasonal jobs has become the norm in Hampton Beach.
“We still could probably fill close to 100 to 150 jobs just here on the strip,” said Hampton Area Chamber of Commerce President John Nyhan.
Nyhan said New Hampshire is already gearing up to receive 3,000 temporary J-1 visa student migrants, up from 2,500 last year.
“We would love to hire many more from the locals but they just are not out there or they do not want to work in hospitality,” he said.
Part of the issue, said Nyhan, is many locals have found other jobs and prefer to work remotely.
The desperation is such that even a cashier job at The Candy Corner can pay as high as $14 an hour, nearly double the New Hampshire minimum wage.
The Massachusetts unemployment rate for March was 3.5% -- down from 3.7% in February, adding 16,300 jobs. In New Hampshire, unemployment dropped from 2.7 % to 2.4% during the same period, according to US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The agency also said leisure and hospitality job openings nationwide are just below 2022 figures, but well over pre-pandemic levels.
In Massachusetts, March employment levels in the same sectors matched those of the same month in 2020 before COVID shut downs.
