Businesses in Ithaca are struggling. Ever since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, unemployment has skyrocketed. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded a record-high unemployment rate of 11.4 percent in April 2020. Now, in March 2023, unemployment rates have lowered back down to normal, about 3 percent. But businesses are still struggling to stay afloat because of a lack of employees. Where is the workforce that supports our economy?
The disappearance of hundreds of workers that is causing local businesses to focus entirely on hiring and forgo any improvements in operations or service appears to come from a slew of factors.
When the economy shut down, workers over fifty-five years of age found themselves able to downsize and sell their houses. With the massive rise in housing prices during the pandemic, many retired early. This sector of the workforce which originally held numerous labor-intensive jobs has not been filled by the new generation of young people entering the job market. This trend, which industrial labor researchers are seeing more and more, has become extremely prevalent as young people are discovering new innovative ways to earn an income that does not involve nine-to-five workdays five days a week.
Young people are looking towards more sustainable living incomes with which they could work less and still be able to support themselves. This new model is almost impossible when working at jobs that are in such high demand because of the low pay and lack of benefits. This lack of workers could also stem from a lack of livable wages that support the workforce. This past year the Tompkins County Workers Center raised the livable wage in Ithaca to 16.61 dollars per hour, yet the minimum wage, which was 13.20 dollars per hour before, only rose one dollar to 14.20 dollars per hour. If jobs in Ithaca offered a sustainable wage with supportive benefits, it is possible that there would be a much smaller need for employees, and businesses would benefit as well.
Hiring employees at a higher starting wage has been shown to lead to much greater gross profit for the business. Researchers explain this trend by citing that employees who enjoy their job and feel that they are being adequately compensated tend to work much more efficiently and their output is, on average, much higher than a counterpart being paid minimum wage.The job losses and turnover in Ithaca are exemplified at the YMCA, where there are only three leadership staff members who were employed there pre-pandemic, and all of the year-round lifeguards are post-pandemic hires. In the Ithaca City School District Transportation Department, job shortages are also prevalent, and the district has been struggling with driver shortages for the past few years. Every day, a rotating number of routes do not have a bus driver available, and affected students have to wait until another bus drops off a different route and comes back to pick them up. Students have reported arriving almost an hour late to school because of this. In this case, labor shortages are having a severe effect on students’ abilities to learn. Because Ithaca is growing constantly, and new buildings and businesses are appearing across the city, it is important to note that the labor population is much smaller than it was pre-pandemic, and even already-established businesses are struggling to retain current staff and hire new employees because of this nationwide issue.