Labor shortages end when wages rise, say some local businesses By Michael E. Kanell, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published: May 30, 2021, 6:00am
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ATLANTA As his six restaurants started ramping up for a post-pandemic world, Brian Will was struggling to find employees, so he went with the classic economics response for hard-to-find things.
He paid more.
Will raised wages for jobs like dishwasher and hostess from $8 or $10 an hour to $15. And he bumped up pay for those on his staff already at that level.
“We started to get a better quality of applicants,” he said. “And the employees we already had, the ones that we gave raises to, they stepped up their game.”
AP Photo/Elaine Thompson
25 May 2021
The public’s rising demand for higher wages is causing turmoil in business sectors that have become reliant on cheap labor ensured by the federal government’s high immigration, wage-cutting policies.
Michael Kanell at Georgia’s AJC.com provided an example in the restaurant sector:
Jamie Oden bought an Amici restaurant franchise in Fayetteville which she plans to open later this month. To be fully staffed, she needs about 25 people. She has fewer than 10.
“We have been struggling to find help,” she said. “No one would even apply.”
She did increase pay by $2 an hour for some cooks and food prep workers. But her business plan called for paying dishwashers $10 or $12 an hour, and at that wage, she couldn’t fill those jobs. “I had people who applied and said they just wouldn’t work for less than $16 an hour.”