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NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Restaurant in Arabi just outside Lower 9th Ward says it can’t hire enough workers and owner blames improved unemployment benefits and US Senator Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana , agrees.
Richie Lewis owns Geralds Famous Burgers and Donuts and is also a member of the St. Bernard Parish Council.
Post on all social media platforms to try to find employees to work. We get hundreds of applications, but the problem is they don’t show up for interviews, Lewis said. When they show up for interviews, you hire them, they don’t show up for work because they’re getting too much money to stay home and that’s the root of the problem.
Lewis says he pays a lot more than minimum wage.
Our salary ranges from $ 11 to $ 20 here at Geralds. I have, you know, workers who make over $ 50,000 a year here at Geralds, so I don’t think the pay is off limits, he said.
Lewis and other St. Bernard officials discussed the hiring issues with Senator Cassidy, who toured the company.
It is a fantastic example of an economic recovery that is suffering from federal politics. Geralds could hire more people; they closed their restaurant in Kenner because they can’t find workers, Cassidy said.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployed Americans temporarily receive a weekly federal unemployment benefit of $ 300 in addition to what states distribute in unemployment benefits.
Why can’t you find workers? Because the additional unemployment from the federal government makes people stay home, Cassidy said.
Gabby Bolden Shaw is an organizer of Step Up Louisiana, an organization fighting for economic justice. She rejects the argument that increasing benefits causes people to stay out of the labor market.
It is not an inducement. It is an insurance between jobs and at the moment this crisis is not over. Not only is the crisis not over, but people still have fears and worries, health and safety issues, compromised immune systems, Shaw said.
More than 20 Republican-led states have ended federal unemployment benefit.
Cassidy believes Governor John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, should do the same. He says people do better when they make a living.
Statistically they’re doing better, so I think it would be wise for Louisiana to consider the impact of the extra payments on labor and on workers, Cassidy said.
But Edwards has no plans at this time to end the federal allowance which is expected to end on September 6. He says that many Louisianans rely on jobs in the tourism industry and that industry has not rebounded.
The state says the number of people seeking unemployment benefits is declining.
The Louisiana Workforce Commission reports that initial unemployment insurance claims for the week ending May 22, 2021, fell to 5,976 from the week ending May 15, 2021, when the total was 6,327. And comparing the same period last year, LWC indicates that during the week ending May 23, 2020, 23,961 initial applications were filed.
Without the $ 300 in federal dollars, Louisiana’s maximum weekly benefit is $ 247.
Five hundred bucks isn’t a lot of money, you know, Shaw said.
Cassidy says the economy needs to get back on its feet.
At some point our society has to cross that barrier, you have been vaccinated or you have already been infected, you are currently immune, you can go back to work, he said.
Step Up Louisiana agrees the economy is still feeling the effects of the pandemic and says many jobs have yet to come back.
I know these business people say the jobs are here, but are there jobs here to accommodate all of those who have lost their jobs? It is a welcoming city. Shaw said.
Lewis says people need to realize that public funds are going to run out.
We understand that some people need unemployment and we understand that the mission is correct, but it is used in such a way that the workforce does not go out to go to work, said Lewis.
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