By Kai Schwenk
Photo by Michael Browning on Unsplash
With Skagit County lifting many lockdown restrictions and entering the more expansive summer business season, many restaurants are facing an extreme resurgence of issues faced with initial business reopenings. Essentially, many restaurants in Skagit County are still not exactly prepared to return to previous, “normal” operations which were managed pre-covid. Kitchen jobs which have never been overwhelmingly appealing are now facing much greater struggles to fill positions, as unemployment benefits have been enhanced once again, and direct cash relief appears to be remaining a fixture for the foreseeable future. Unemployment benefits made national headlines after weekly payments received a 600 dollar increase from March to the end of July of 2020. Total payments came out to upwards of 800 dollars per week for recipients, which garnered a fair bit of criticism, both for how inaccessible and difficult it was to get ahold of the benefits, and for how enticing they were and as a result, how they discouraged seeking work.
After their expiration on July 31st, people had to rely on regular unemployment benefits, along with a few weeks of an extra 300 per week via executive order for the Trump Administration. In theory this cease in enhanced unemployment benefits might have been what restaurants needed, however, businesses and restaurants were still extremely restricted in fall 2020, and due to a lack in business and traffic, attracting additional staff was not particularly high priority. That was until recently, with an unemployment boost of 300 dollars per week recently passing into law, and a 400 dollar unemployment enhancement currently in legislation at the time of writing this article. Essentially, this creates some poor situations with no real obvious solution for many local restaurants. With no eager applicants for kitchen jobs in local restaurants, wait times increase, and restaurants are not able to easily help incoming guests. This of course reduces tips and visiting customers altogether, discouraging applicants to take the jobs, and giving employers little financial freedom to try offering higher wages to attract more employees. To put this into numbers, Washington’s employment data recorded that 27% of jobs in the Skagit County hospitality sector were lost between March and April of 2020, and with so many businesses reopening and competing to gain employees, with some stiff competition from unemployment benefits, restaurants are struggling to maintain staff. This problem is likely only going to be worsening, as enhanced unemployment benefits are currently positioned to not only extend once again, but increase from 300 to 400 dollars, further increasing the lucrativity of avoiding minimum wage and low paying jobs, such as those offered to cooks.
Additional stimulus checks are also still being discussed by the government and congress at the time of writing, which is symbolic of a larger mentality, which is that congress will not be ceasing direct relief anytime soon. Outside of simply competing with unemployment, restaurants are also facing a job market which is greatly recovering, with many larger retail and labor jobs attracting people with prospects of internal promotion, better working conditions, or simply better pay than what people make working kitchens. To get some firsthand accounts on the transition and how job markets have reached this state, I asked around on an unemployment board for insight from people who entered the unemployment system from working in kitchens before the pandemic hit, and I got some responses which helped me to understand these current events:
“Ever since I got into this system for benefits, I’ve been making much more money than I was at my local kitchen. Getting laid off back in March 2020 was scary, and it was even scarier dealing with the overwhelmed unemployment system. However, I’ve been doing very well since I managed to get approved. There is just no good reason to return to work force jobs at the moment”. Another reply I found interesting was “Actually getting approved for the benefits was an incredibly frustrating and slow process, and even since that point of approval, I’ve still been receiving endless issues and changes. Working would probably have saved me a few headaches”. GoSkagit wrote an article recently detailing how different restaurants have been facing this fairly unprecedented phenomenon, with every story painting the same picture; despite all kinds of different attempts to attract prospective workers, applications have hardly been received by any restaurants which are seeking workers. GoSkagit reported that some businesses have even resorted to working with temp agencies or paying higher wages, but neither is likely sustainable for long term business, especially with revenue decreasing due to smaller tips and infrequent returning customers. With congress seemingly locked ahead and focused on the current path of direct cash relief, many businesses are likely going to need to adapt to make it through this year’s summer season.
