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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RECORD

Friday, March 29, 2024

44% of business owners can't find workers due to stimulus payments, unemployment benefits

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Relles

Relles

Like many business owners across the country, Sacramento flower shop operator Jim Relles spends a lot of time trying to recruit talent on websites like Craigslist, LinkedIn, and Nextdoor.

“I plead with people who I find through nooks and crannies,” Relles told Southern California Record. “Friends of my family members end up working with me just because I need help.”

Relles said he’d like to take time off from the family business but he has been so busy delivering flowers himself and managing posts on job websites seeking workers that he hasn’t had time. He estimates 30 percent of his time is spent searching for help.

“I got one response from a lady who thought it would be fun to deliver flowers and then I advertised for a floral designer two months ago but nobody responded to it because people are getting this unemployment and stimulus money,” Relles said. “I don't blame them. I wouldn't work either if I didn't have to.”

Relles is among the 44 percent of small-business owners who report having job openings they can’t fill, according to NFIB’s most recent jobs report. The number was 22 points higher than the 48-year historical average and two points higher than the 42 percent for the month of March. 

“I'm looking for delivery people, salespeople, and floral designers,”  Relles said. “The government has to end these programs.”

In the years that Relles has been operating Relles Florist, he says this is the first time he has had to beg potential employees to work.  

“California doesn't allow people to work as a volunteer so you have to pay them, which can discourage some people because they want to get paid under the table so that they don’t lose their unemployment benefits but that doesn't work legally for any business,” he said.

With graduation ceremonies around the corner, Relles is dangling overtime pay and has even given his workers a raise so that they will work on Saturdays.

“They may not say anything but they are getting a raise effective May 1 because it’s hard for me to compete with Amazon and McDonald's Corporation as a small business person,” he added.

Instead of ending stimulus checks and other benefits now that doses of the coronavirus vaccine are being distributed, Gov. Newsom recently announced a proposal to extend them.

“Finding qualified employees has always been a concern of small-business owners, now it seems that has taken a back seat to find any employees,” said John Kabateck, NFIB’s California state director. “The reasons probably vary, including workers still apprehensive about returning to the job for fear of contracting COVID-19 to unemployment benefits still paying better than returning to work.”

According to media reports, households earning up to $75,000, could receive $600 stimulus checks and help with paying off back rent for those renters impacted by the pandemic. Gov. Newsom has also proposed helping Californians pay off water and electricity bills that may have piled up during the coronavirus shutdown. 

"Many industries do have trade colleges or graduate programs where people are looking for work," Kabateck added. "We encourage business owners not to give up on communities that offer quite a bit but who may not be on a typical student pathway like senior citizens, military veterans, and persons with special needs or disabilities."

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