James Beard Award-winning Boston chef Michael Schlow developed seasonal brick oven pizza recipes for Neon Marketplace convenience stores. James Beard Award-winning Boston chef Michael Schlow developed seasonal brick oven pizza recipes for Neon Marketplace convenience stores.
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As the world began to emerge from more than a year of pandemic-related uncertainty in May 2021, an avalanche of photographs showing signs about businesses being “short staffed” because “no one wants to work” appeared on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
One very popular April 2021 tweet (and assorted Facebook posts) showed a sign taped to a Sonic Drive-In menu in Albuquerque, New Mexico:
Sonic in Albuquerque says “No one wants to work anymore.” pic.twitter.com/CR128n60mM
Examples
The Facebook post linked above included an image of the same sign, with the following lament:
This is a Sonic in Albuquerque New Mexico. I guess if you pay employees more on unemployment than when they work, they tend not to work. Who knew ??
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Who would have thought enhanced unemployment benefits of $300 a week over an extended period could stymie employment?
Many business owners say that’s exactly what’s happening.
Unemployment benefits and rounds of stimulus payments have been a lifeline for many of the 150,000 New Mexicans put out of work by the pandemic. State unemployment benefits range from just $90 to $484 per week, and it’s virtually impossible to get by on the lower end of that, so the current $300-a-week federal enhancements are keeping many New Mexicans afloat.
But now with businesses trying to reopen, and the state’s minimum wage at $10.50 an hour, those unemployment benefits have become a disincentive for many to return to the workforce. Twisters COO Bahjat Shariff told the Journal his company is looking to hire 50 employees, but referral bonuses, sign-on bonuses and other incentives just aren’t working. E