In this file photo dated July 28, 2011, children line up for a walk during a visit to Fort William Henry in Lake George, NY
Photo: Times Union file photoIn this file photo dated July 28, 2011, children line up for a walk during a visit to Fort William Henry in Lake George, NY
In this file photo dated July 28, 2011, children line up for a walk during a visit to Fort William Henry in Lake George, NY
In this file photo dated July 28, 2011, children line up for a walk during a visit to Fort William Henry in Lake George, NY
LAKE GEORGE: A combination of new federal visa restrictions and unemployment benefits resulting from a pandemic has led to a shortage of employees in this lakeside complex, which has resulted in higher wages and a collaborative effort to recruit workers.
"It's a perfect storm," said Sara Mannix, who runs a local company, Mannix Marketing, that helps coordinate the workload that hotel, restaurateurs, and other employees want to hire for the weekend. July 4th.
Because of the restrictions related to containing the COVID-19 pandemic, many people come to the Lake George area to enjoy the summer as part of a class action lawsuit.
Many hotels operate with reduced capacity, not because people don't come, but because they don't have enough workers to clean rooms, Mannix said.
There are two reasons. On the one hand, President Donald Trump's suspension of a visa for work abroad , including the J-1 student program, has led to a significant deficit.
Last year, 1,400 international students took part in this program, who worked as housewives, cooks, waiters, waitresses and other hotel professionals to keep this complex running.
They won't come with visa restrictions.
The other reason, Mannix said, is all payments people receive due to the economic closure caused by the pandemic. People have received $ 1,200 in federal stimulus checks, and another may be underway.
And for the unemployed, there are performance checks of up to $ 600 more than usual per week at the end of July.
Not everyone wants to go to work with this money.
To attract workers, employers in Lake George are raising wages and have set up a one-stop website for job seekers : LakeGeorgeisHiring.com.
Mannix said that the approximately 500 vacancies they had were about twice as high as usual, and that this would happen later than usual in the season since many companies now have their employee lists.
A hotel manager who refused to be named said that his exchange workers were usually set up in mid-May. He added that American children are often reluctant to take on manual jobs such as housewives or cooks.
"They don't want jobs in the service sector, so we have to rely on overseas students," he said.
With all the vacancies, wages rose this summer, especially for cleaning jobs. The days of these minimum wage jobs are over, Mannix said.
Many start at $ 14 an hour and tip up to $ 17 an hour.
Work is different too. Housewives do not clean the rooms daily, but thoroughly when the guests leave. In some cases, this includes the use of UV sticks and careful cleaning of items such as TV remote controls and other touch surfaces.
Companies go beyond better wages. They are also considering creating a group of low-priced apartments hoping to lure workers to places like Albany.
The urge for employees, he added, is a sign that the community is working together to address the challenges of the pandemic.
"This COVID thing definitely brought us together," he said.
rkarlin@timesunion.com 518454 5758 @RickKarlinTU
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire