We read with great concern reporter Steve Schulwitz’s recent story that many Northeast Michigan businesses continue struggling to recruit workers.
Without the help they need, many businesses have scaled back hours or closed for days at a time to give the employees they do have a much-needed rest. Without the help, and while also getting pummeled by supply chain disruptions that make it harder to offer all they want to offer, many business owners worry they may not make it.
In national surveys and to journalists around the country, many would-be workers have cited a number of reasons for why they haven’t returned to work after losing their jobs during coronavirus-related shutdowns. Many say they simply make more money staying home and collecting unemployment benefits. Many say they’re afraid to go back while the coronavirus continues to spread. Many say they can’t find child care (many child care facilities were among the businesses that closed shop for good during the pandemic).
The government has a role to play, there, from encouraging wider vaccination to making smart policies designed to help reduce the spread of the virus to making smart decisions about when to cut off unemployment benefits to investing in child care.
But we each have a role to play, too. We need to make sure we get our vaccination when we can. If we’re able, we need to help out a friend, a neighbor, or a loved one with child care.
And we need to make sure that, if we can, we continue to support local businesses so they can have the revenue to not only survive but also offer competitive wages that will draw workers back to the front lines of our economy.
We have to get people back to work.
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