POINT PLEASANT BEACH — Morey’s Piers & Beachfront Water Parks in Wildwood has reached out to nontraditional workers to fill jobs this summer, including bringing in dozens of theatrical workers sidelined from cruise ship and off-Broadway jobs by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Still, its staffing is only at 70% of 2019 levels, keeping it from operating at the level consumers are demanding this summer, Morey’s Vice President of Human Resources and Government Relations Denise Beckson said during a news conference Tuesday, organized by the New Jersey Business and Industry Association.
“We run three piers, two water parks and four restaurants,” Beckson said. “All of our businesses are struggling this year. We have had rides closed, services reduced and we have reduced hours.”
The opportunity for her employer and many others in the state to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic is being curtailed by a lack of workers, she said.
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She and other business representatives were at Red’s Lobster Pot restaurant to plead with Gov. Phil Murphy to help them attract more workers to meet post-pandemic consumer demand.
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No one from the Governor’s Office was able to provide a comment Tuesday.
“The problem is only getting worse every day with students and teachers working summer jobs preparing to return to sports teams and classrooms beginning in August,” said Vicki Clark, chair of the board of the New Jersey Tourism Industry Association and president of the Cape May County Chamber of Commerce.
“If you can work, please work,” said Toms River restaurant owner Joe Palmisano, who owns the Four Seasons diner and Joe Bella Restaurant there. “Part-time, full-time, any time. We’ll take it.”
The state should pay bonuses to people who return to work, rather than to those who stay home and collect unemployment benefits, Palmisano said.
The $300 federal subsidy on top of state unemployment benefits is not set to expire until after Sept. 4.
“We need help. The struggle is real,” said Palmisano. “It’s not fair. Our taxes are not going down.”
Representatives of bakeries, appliance stores, child care centers and the shore tourism industry described how high unemployment benefits, curtailment of the J-1 visa program that usually brings thousands of international workers to the state for the summer and COVID-related restrictions on child care centers have combined to keep their staffing levels unacceptably low.
Some businesses were so adversely affected by COVID-19 shutdowns they cannot afford to offer wage increases beyond the state minimum wage of $12 per hour, said NJBIA President and CEO Michele Siekerka. But some have offered substantial increases and still haven’t been able to attract workers, she said.
Ferlanda Nixon, policy chief for the African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey, said Blacks still have the highest unemployment rate in the state and offered help in getting job openings in front of Black community members. Email job information to Nicole Baptiste at nbaptiste@aaccnj.com.
Morey’s expects staffing to fall to about 45% of 2019 levels in mid-August unless something is done to get people off unemployment and onto payrolls, Beckson said.
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Many business representatives said they advertise constantly and cannot get applicants for jobs, and even when they hire someone, the person often does not show up to work.
“Without child care, parents cannot return to work,” said Karyn Serrano Jarzyk, owner of Kiddie Academy in Runnemede. Yet she said child care centers are still under COVID restrictions that require the same children and staff to be together all day. Children are not allowed, for example, to move to a different room with different kids if they stay longer than other children in their group.
That has meant she doesn’t have the flexibility needed to run her normal schedule of 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. She has had to shorten her day and cut back on the number of children she can accept, she said. It’s time to end those restrictions on child care centers, she said.
Siekerka said businesses would put out the money themselves for a proposed $1,000 return-to-work bonus if the state would promise reimbursement using federal COVID funds, for example.
She also said businesses need the governor to make it clear that the state will enforce return-to-work requirements on those receiving unemployment benefits.
Until the pandemic, those receiving unemployment had to show they were applying for jobs and taking jobs offered, or be cut off from benefits.
She also called for the state to “fully open One Stop Career Centers, in person.” The state Department of Labor has been running the centers’ services virtually since the start of the pandemic.
REPORTER: Michelle Brunetti Post
609-272-7210
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