Summer presents an important economic opportunity for businesses as tourists and other visitors sweep through Wrangell. However, many businesses are struggling to find the staff they need to take advantage of the season’s full potential.
Staff shortages have prevented City Market from transitioning to its expanded summer hours. “We have just enough staff here right now that are available to have one shift,” said store director Kristina Decker. Summer hours bring a noticeable bump in sales, but the store just hasn’t had the capacity to open any additional hours without overworking its employees, most of whom are part time.
Nationwide, workforce participation remains below pre-pandemic levels, according to a report by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Lack of accessible child care and declining “real wages,” or wages adjusted for inflation, are two primary factors driving would-be workers away from the labor force, the report said.
The worker shortage has persisted in Wrangell the past couple of years as businesses have tried to staff back up after pandemic cutbacks.
Decker acknowledges that low wages are part of the reason the store struggles to retain employees. “We spent most of our year training people that ended up leaving,” she said. “Ninety-five percent of them went to the hospital. That was even more difficult because we can’t compete with those kinds of wages.”
Rayme’s Bar has been trying to hire since January, but hasn’t received any applications. The bar typically has high employee turnover, explained owner Rayme Privett, but if new employees don’t replace the outgoing ones, he’ll have to consider decreasing the bar’s hours.
“There’s nothing you can do about that,” he said of high turnover. “I don’t blame a person for doing that, getting a job with insurance and retirement benefits. I can’t supply that.”
“It’s not just me, it’s almost every business in town,” he added. “If you walked into almost any business in town and asked, ‘could you use another employee,’ I bet you a buck they would say, ‘yes.’”
Ottesen’s Ace Hardware is one such business. Despite increasing wages, the business has struggled to compete with the flexibility of gig and seasonal labor. It has been looking for three more full-time employees since the end of summer 2022.
“It’s hard to keep employees through (the summer) when they could be doing side jobs fishing, lawn maintenance, anything of that nature that they can do which is seasonal,” said manager Apryl Hutchinson.
Hutchinson recognizes that without higher wages and benefits, the job may be unattractive to many potential workers. “I’m not sure how many people can live off of $16 an hour and maintain a whole house,” she said. “It’s understandable.”
But with its small staff working overtime, the business has struggled to balance its budget for payroll. “We have too many people overtime,” she said, and “there’s more work that needs to be done.”
City Market's Decker wants to remind shoppers and community members that her store's employees —and employees at other understaffed establishments around town — are doing their best. “They are trying as hard as they can to make sure all needs are being met throughout the community,” she said. “But being short-staffed, that causes a little more work on every person.”
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