FOX VALLEY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The extended unemployment insurance benefits are having an impact on local hiring. For the first time in a long time, it’s no longer that jobs aren’t available, the problem is finding people to work them.
They’re all around – closed signs quickly replaced by “Now Hiring” signs.
“We see healthcare, and transportation, and you name it,” said business solutions manager for the Fox Valley Workforce Development Board, Bobbi Miller. “It’s every sector. Almost every company is looking for someone.”
But why?
Some employers are telling FOX 11 the extra money that people are receiving in unemployment benefits is making it harder to hire.
“If at $15 an hour on a 40-hour-week job is $600 and, I understand, I think it’s $630 a week, or $680 a week in unemployment, so there’s a little bit of a balancing act on trying to coax people back,” Mark Dougherty of Appleton’s Mark’s Eastside said.
It’s even harder for employers to find entry-level workers.
“A lot of times, we do look at that entry-level wage earner to have a start in the industry, and it’s been difficult to find that person.”
For the most part, Dougherty says Mark’s Eastside regained most, if not all, of its employees. That’s a credit to what leaders there say they pride themselves in the most – treating employees well.
“Retaining employees is also on the employer, you know. If you don’t have turnover, then you don’t have to worry about hiring.”
Miller tells FOX 11 a lot of times, those unemployed can’t go back to work, because of the circumstance the pandemic has put them in.
“They might still be dealing with lack of childcare, or intermittent childcare. They might have some issues with schools, even though most schools are back in-person. They might have some days where their kids have to be out, because of potential exposure, so I think it’s just really hard to say that one size fits all.”
The Fox Valley Workforce Development Board also says, if you’re not currently employed, it’s still important to show that you’re making good use of your time.
It says, even if that means taking online courses or going back to school, prospective employers will always ask what you did during a lapse in employment.
