What's behind the worker shortage?
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The "now hiring" signs that local businesses have posted and set up are hard to miss.
Many employers are struggling to fill job openings, even after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted and extra unemployment benefits were dropped in Ohio at the end of June.
While economists believe the extra $300 weekly federal unemployment benefits played a modest role in the worker shortage, at this point in the year it's not the entire picture.
"It's been tough recently, during the day is when we're having the most problem hiring," Brian Gorup said, store manager at Sparkle in Cornersburg.
Early morning and day time shifts are still open at the local grocery store.
Customers are greeted with this sign when they enter the Sparkle be patient, it reads "The whole world is short staffed. Please be kind and patient to those employees that showed up to work".
Zenobia Cuisine and Bar in Canfield was so low on workers last week it could only offer carry out options to its patrons. The owner says she's still hoping to hire more workers.
What's behind the worker shortage?
While unemployment benefits played a part, the cost or access to childcare, health concerns over the Delta variant, an uptick in retirements and higher paying jobs in other sectors are all factors local economists point to.
"I think a lot of workers who became unemployed during the pandemic used that time to think about where they would want to be taking their next job," Bill Adams said, senior economist with PNC Financial.
Some workers have become more selective on where they want to end up long term.
"A lot of the workers that had the jobs in leisure and hospitality don't want to go back at those wages that they were paid before," A.J. Sumell said, economics professor at Youngstown State University.
Sumell says the economy is still a long way off in recovering from the the pandemic's immediate and longer term issues.
Before the pandemic started, the healthcare sector was already seeing a staff shortage. Sumell believes the pandemic only made the problem worse.
The latest survey by the National Federation of Independent Business found 50-percent of small business owners can not openings, which is up from July.
The leisure and hospitality sectors were the first to lay off workers at the onset of the pandemic and now, the competition over a smaller pool of candidates is setting off a wage war.
Sumell believes wages for service industry and hospitality jobs may go even higher before the end of the year.