Historic Triangle — For many, New Year’s Day is a symbolic new start, a clean state, and a day to say “with the old, with the new.”
The earth makes one revolution around the sun and does business as usual. We personally come up with solutions, new hobbies, and goals to pursue. If you are an employee of the service industry, your list of goals for 2022 may include the idea of applying for and landing a new job in another company or even another industry. For some employees of the Historic Triangle, it’s starting to look more than a goal.
Local labor shortage
A labor shortage probably puts an even greater burden on the local economy than a supply chain shortage.
Unlike the cleanliness that accompanies the New Year’s resolution, the problem of labor shortages accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be left behind by local businesses in the Historic Triangle. This is because the local economy consists primarily of recreational and service-based businesses (hotels, restaurants, resorts, schools, hospitals, etc.). The economic impact of COVID-19 will continue to impact employees in these industries as they make life decisions for 2022.
“It’s a complicated issue, so when we were trapped, people were at home and the government helped some industries like hospitality, such as hotels. Some of our employees were fired. When they were supported, “William & Mary’s Raymond A. Mason Business School Ramganesian Operations & Supply Chain professor said. “The government came and said we would give you three or four months of unemployment. So what does this bring to many employees in a particular industry? They are how they are. See if they could live their lives in. They were able to spend more time with their families and spend more time with them, and many of those industries it did. I started wondering if it was the right life choice, so they said, “Hey, I think this job robbed me too much. Maybe I’m doing something else. You have to do that. “So there was this whole thing to reconsider whether they should do these jobs. “
The WYDaily Newsroom is addressing this issue as it is under development on a large scale with a hospitality worker working at Colonial Williamsburg (CW). More than 200 CW employees were backed by a Washington, DC-based trade union called UNITEHERE. Local 25 under negotiation for new contract.
“We deserve it, so we want better wages, better medical care, and better treatment. Before the labor protests that took place during the CW Grand Illuminations event on December 4, 2021, the CW Employee Agatha Hilt said in an interview with WY Daily. Hilt has been a CW employee for over 11 years.
Employment issues at local schools
Local schools throughout Hampton Roads also face challenges related to labor shortages.
When the COVID-19 pandemic began, schools moved from face-to-face classes to completely virtual systems.
“When thinking about the school system, think about the enormous amount of effort required. Let’s say last March. Moving from a physical system to a virtual system is not an easy task for teachers,” Ganeshan said. Mr. says. “They had to recreate the entire curriculum so that it could be virtualized.”
The local school finally returned to face-to-face lessons from 2021 to the 22nd year, but one of the common problems the school system had to overcome was the lack of bus drivers. Both Williamsburg-James City County Public School (WJCC) and York County School Division (YCSD) reported a shortage of bus drivers before the school returned to face-to-face classes.
Even when the Historic Triangle enters 2022, WJCC school district substitute teachers need to assist local school teachers who have served the community and provided education to the public school system during the pandemic.
What about the Virginia employment market?
According to the latest Jobs and Turnover Survey (JOLTS) from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics in October 2021, “Virginia’s layoffs fell by 7,000 to 108,000, to six. [percent] It is lower than September, but still rising compared to past trends. “
The survey defines Quits as follows:[V]Voluntary separation initiated by employees. In the United States, the number of smoking cessation in October decreased by 205,000 to 4.2 million. This is down from the 4.4 million record of the previous month. Record highs show that the most people have quit since the United States began holding statistical records about 20 years ago, accounting for about 3% of the country’s workforce. The number of retirees can be seen as a leading indicator of wage trends in that it includes workers who have retired to change jobs. “
Despite this recent trend, local businesses understand this issue and are doing their best to assist their employees.
“People need to understand that the restaurant industry doesn’t have to be this brutal monster, where they work 150 hours a week and aren’t paid,” said Culture Café Scott Hoyland co-owner. Said in an interview. At WY Daily.
Entering 2022, it is only time to see how the Omicron variant of COVID-19 will affect the Historic Triangle.
WYDaily will continue to track these trends throughout 2022.
