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TexasTowelie

(111,315 posts)
Tue Jul 20, 2021, 09:54 PM Jul 2021

Texas Restaurant Workers Are in Short Supply--And That Gives Them New Leverage

“Sadly, due to government handouts, no one wants to work anymore. Therefore, we are short staffed,” reads a table placard at Corralito Steak House in El Paso. At the Oasis, a restaurant on Lake Travis in Austin, a sign greeting diners reads: “We are short staffed. Please be patient with the staff that did show up. No one wants to work anymore.” A similar sign was spotted at a Chicken Express drive-through in Fort Worth. As the COVID-19 pandemic eases and diners eagerly return to restaurants that had laid off many employees, those businesses are finding themselves short on workers. This is a national phenomenon, but given the rapid growth of Texas’s population and economy, the crunch is especially evident here.

Owners are blaming the shortage on a variety of factors, often embracing the much-challenged theory that workers prefer to stay on unemployment insurance rather than return to work. But workers we interviewed say it isn’t the unemployment checks that are keeping them from returning to work as servers and cooks—it’s the demanding, low-paid, and often benefit-free nature of the jobs. As economic growth accelerates in Texas, those workers face more attractive opportunities in other industries than they did before the pandemic. And by their account, most restaurant owners prefer to blame government handouts or employee laziness rather than behave like rational capitalists and compete for talent.

An April 2021 survey conducted by the National Restaurant Association showed 91 percent of Texas eatery operators “currently have job openings that are difficult to fill,” while 84 percent of operators nationwide have lower staffing levels now than before the pandemic. In May, a group of 38 Texas business organizations, including the Texas Restaurant Association and nearly two dozen chambers of commerce, wrote a letter asking Governor Greg Abbott to end the $300 monthly unemployment supplement that workers received as part of federal COVID-19 relief. The extra funds, they wrote, posed “a major barrier to fill [sic] their job openings.” Abbott agreed and granted their wish. Citing “voluminous jobs,” with restaurant roles given as an example, the statement accompanying his decision boasted of the booming Texas economy and copious high-paying job opportunities.

As of June 26, unemployed Texans no longer received the supplemental benefits. (The undocumented workers who make up 8.4 percent of the state’s workforce were never eligible to receive them to begin with.) What remains to be seen is whether this move, accompanied by the resumption of residential evictions at the end of July, is enough to push workers to fill low-paid jobs in restaurants, or whether they will find better prospects in other industries.

Read more: https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-restaurant-workers-unemployment-leverage/

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Texas Restaurant Workers Are in Short Supply--And That Gives Them New Leverage (Original Post) TexasTowelie Jul 2021 OP
Maybe they are also Diamond_Dog Jul 2021 #1
"or whether they will find better prospects in other industries." or other states.... wcmagumba Jul 2021 #2
Ok, I live in Austin Lithos Jul 2021 #3

Diamond_Dog

(31,669 posts)
1. Maybe they are also
Tue Jul 20, 2021, 10:04 PM
Jul 2021

Fearful of working closely with other people in a crowded environment where vaccinations are not mandated and most people don’t wear masks? It’s not like any of those jobs offer healthcare benefits or paid time off.

wcmagumba

(2,871 posts)
2. "or whether they will find better prospects in other industries." or other states....
Tue Jul 20, 2021, 10:05 PM
Jul 2021

people are tired of the low rent capitalists cheating workers out of a living wage....pay better wages and get some benefits and you might get workers. The work at home (internet) economy no longer requires all workers be tied to a low wage (read rethuglican) location and during the last 1 1/2 years many took the opportunity to get trained for other types of employment...

Lithos

(26,397 posts)
3. Ok, I live in Austin
Tue Jul 20, 2021, 10:11 PM
Jul 2021

The named restaurant in the story seems to have a reputation online - The Oasis is a minimum wage hell. The only enticement are tips which given the pandemic is not what it used to be - even though the work environment is the same. Given that people have to *drive* to get there, it's probably easier to find better work that pays more much closer to town.

Maybe The Oasis needs to stop living the Libertarian Dream and actually pay the workers real benefits.

L-

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