I am not an economist, though I like learning and thinking about economic problems.
Nor am I a statistician, human resources manager or director of hiring at a business.
But I do think a lot about why so many employers in Wrangell, around the state and across the country are finding it so hard recruiting people to fill vacant jobs.
As of October, while there were 7,300 fewer jobs in Alaska than a year ago, there were three times as many people unemployed, according to U.S. Labor Department statistics. Yet, it seems some days there are more help wanted signs on storefronts than open signs.
The unemployment rate in Wrangell, while half the rate of its pandemic peak in the spring of 2020, was still a full percentage point higher in October than a year ago, according to the state Labor Department. That means many of those who lost their jobs are back at work, but not all.
And yet multiple employers in town are looking for workers: The borough and school district have openings, TSA needs workers at the airport, and the chamber of commerce recently posted about a dozen Wrangell employers that had jobs in need of applicants.
So why aren’t people without jobs applying for any of the multiple openings? National research answers a lot of that question.
Some people are reluctant to take jobs facing the public when COVID-19 is still more common, and deadly, than the flu. They are concerned for their own health, and the safety of their family. Maybe, in time, as vaccination rates go up and case counts go down, some will come back to work.
And some would like to get back on the job but find it hard without affordable child care. They can only lean on family for so many hours a week.
Others have decided maybe full-time work just isn’t the dominating goal in life as they had assumed. Especially for families, many couples have figured out how to get by with something less than two full-time salaries.
And others have looked at their checkbook and decided state and federal pandemic relief aid has given them enough of a cushion that they will get a job when they need the money — and not before.
But the interesting number among the charts and tables at the Alaska Department of Labor is that the size of Wrangell’s labor force has shrunk by more than 60 people in recent years.
The statistics show that the community’s labor force averaged almost 1,050 people from 2010 to 2019. Then it fell below 990 in 2020 and is holding there this year, so far. “Labor force” is the total number of people working or looking for work. We know unemployment has been up since the pandemic shutdowns started in March 2020, but Wrangell’s long-term hiring problem is that there are fewer people in the labor force than at any time in the past decade.
No wonder jobs are open — there are not enough people in town to fill them all.
And since there aren’t dozens of vacant apartments for rent and homes for sale, I’d say it’s a safe bet that some of that missing labor force has decided retirement looks better than working five days a week.
If Wrangell is going to fill its jobs, it needs new residents and more housing. Sounds like a New Year’s resolution for the community.
Reader Comments(0)