There is a shortage of available workers willing to work in local establishments, indicative of the workforce shortage plaguing the country in the wake of a strong economic recovery, and despite a year of partial shutdowns due to COVID-19.
More than ever, local business windows display a plea for help, and several have cut their hours with some restaurants even closing on premise dining for lack of enough employees to keep the doors open.
Opinion for months has been that the augmented unemployment benefits are what is keeping workers home, preferring to collect nearly $600 per week rather than return to any job paying less than $15 per hour. But data release this week by the Nevada Department of Employment, Training, and Rehabilitation (DETR) show unemployment in Churchill County at 3.2% with only 25 initial claims made last week, down from 232 during this week last year. Not many people in the community are hanging on to the unemployment rolls.
So where are they and why can’t local employers find them?
Part of the calculus is the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center (TRI) in Storey County. There are thousands of jobs paying decent wages, benefits, and even providing transportation from Fallon to the warehouses and factories. Several recent high school graduates are jumping out of the local job market, working for Panasonic, Chewy, or Tesla, to name just a few of the TRI employers. They are bringing home $20 per hour with bonuses instead of filling local $12 per hour job positions. In the past it has been those new graduates who filled the local market with a fresh crop of workers willing to start in these entry-level spots and keep the shops, restaurants, and hardware stores functioning.
But now, in no small part due to the resilience developed through COVID, people have changed, and their basic values have shifted. Not only are they choosing to work for more money at TRI, but many have figured out that their “side hustle” can provide as good or better a living, with no “boss” running the show or demanding an eight-hour shift. Technology has allowed people to earn a living from their living rooms in house-slippers. They can tele-work for companies anywhere in the country, independently trade stocks or crypto currency, build online stores or training programs, and develop customers from all parts of the world.
Because workers currently seem to have the upper hand, some local employers are offering higher wages or bonuses to attract warm bodies to fill positions. Several local dairies are paying incentives to employees who show up on time for every shift, including Sage Hill which is currently advertising for a milker, five shifts a week, from 6:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. starting at $129 per shift with quarterly bonuses and annual raises. The United States Postal Service was looking for an assistant letter carrier for $17.29 per hour, and Kent’s Supply Center is looking for a Yard Associate that pays up to $17 per hour depending on experience. General consensus among local employers is it is extremely difficult to find employees right now.
The Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) recently released a Labor Supply Study to measure the quantity and quality of potential employees across the state. Responses were collected from every county across a broad range of potential employees ranging from 18 to 64 years of age. GOED will use the study to determine the number of workers available to employers who are considering expansion or major investments in the state. The report issued in December 2020 shows a total available workforce of 1,514,900 people; workers who are either looking for employment or would change jobs for the right opportunities. Of that number 300,500 are considered underemployed and 232,600 are actively seeking different employment than they currently have.
“With the right opportunities, the Nevada Labor Market appears poised to provide the talent necessary for the growth of new and existing businesses,” according to the report.
Six months later, DETR data reports a total of 390 unemployed people in Churchill County. There are nearly 11,800 people working in 609 establishments, down from 704 at this time last year. An establishment is defined as an economic unit such as a farm, factory, or store that produces goods or services and whose activities are reported to the state unemployment system.
In spite of the labor shortage, the local economy continues to improve, within taxable sales for March up 38.1% from February to $41,355,415.
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