Valley businesses struggle to recruit young hires

Jun. 13—Rita's Italian Ice owner Jim Young is working longer hours due to the difficulty he's faced staffing the Danville business he's owned for five years.

"We hire mostly high school kids and usually it isn't that difficult," said Young of the trouble he's had this season recruiting staff.

One college student interviewed for a position and never returned or responded to several calls and emails, he said.

"It's been really challenging," Young said. "I'm working a lot of hours and with less people."

The employee shortage amid the COVID-19 pandemic has hit service and manufacturing industries and is also affecting seasonal businesses which rely on younger workers even as job openings in the U.S. soared to a record 9.3 million in April, 1 million more than the previous month and the highest since December 2000, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Though employers across the U.S. are raising starting salaries to attract workers, the higher wages aren't enough to lure teens, according to the Pew Research Center which found more college-bound youth are opting to participate in summer internships or academic programs rather than the labor force.

The Donald L. Heiter Community Center in Lewisburg received just three applications for eight summer camp counselor positions this season compared to 91 received in 2019, Executive Director Andrea Tufo said.

Tufo and Assistant Director Billie Hoover will help cover the shortage by working directly with campers but the lack of staff has forced the center to reduce the number of children participants from 42 to 29 when the program begins June 21.

"It used to be people would take the job to gain experience and for the fun experience of going on field trips, but now that is not at all interesting. They want cash," Tufo said.

Paula Dickey, manager of the Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit's Yes To the Future program established in 2016 to help young adults between 16 and 24 obtain employment or enter a training program or the military, said finding young people to participate has been difficult in the past year.

"We know many young adults are not in the workplace but we're really struggling to find them during the pandemic," said Dickey.

In an effort to attract participants to the program where they can receive job interviewing practice, paid and unpaid internships, job shadowing and other services, Dickey said they've begun running radio advertisements, installing billboards and signs around the Valley.

Even though there were more working-age teens in the U.S. last month than in May 2000 — 16.4 million compared to 15.9 million — far fewer of them were in the labor force, according to Pew which reports that 5.9 million U.S. teens held a job last month, down from 8.1 million in 2000.

Greater Susquehanna Valley United Way President and CEO Joanne Troutman said there are many factors at play in keeping youth out of the workforce, not only higher unemployment benefits.

"Some of it is COVID fear and anxiety of working in customer service," she said.

Dominic Cecco, 18, of Selinsgrove, started a landscaping and odd jobs business with two friends last summer and gave up the job he'd held for 1 1/2 years at a convenience store.

Cecco said the COVID-19 pandemic made him concerned about the health risks of working so closely with the public.

"We didn't know a lot about COVID at the time, he said.

The local labor market is also being bypassed by area youth as options are opening up that allow people to work remotely, Troutman said.

Weis Markets is addressing the worker shortage during the pandemic by offering bonuses of between $100 and $500 to new part-time and full-time hires aged 15 and older.

"It's designed to generate applicants in a competitive market," said Weis spokesman Dennis Curtin.

The company's 1.3 million square-foot distribution center in Milton has 1,000 employees and still has both full- and part-time positions available.

For new full-time hires at the Weis distribution center, Curtin said, bonuses of up to $5,000 plus a potential top pay rate of $31.38 per hour with benefits is being offered.

Knoebels Amusement Park is stressing the benefits it provides in an effort to recruit more people but due to the smaller applicant pool the Elysburg park has scaled back its operation this year, with shorter hours, consolidating food and gift shops and limiting rides.

Before the pandemic, Knoebels had about 2,300 employees and this year the aim is to hire 1,800, said Human Resources Director Jon Anderson.

"Though we are several hundred away from reaching that goal, we are thankful to be steadily adding to our team," he said. "We have had a nice flow of 14- and 15-year-old applicants and are hopeful for additional applicants who are 16 and older in order to keep more attractions and offerings open later in the evening."

The reopening of games, food and gift stores will depend on the progress in hiring new recruits, Anderson said.

To combat the smaller applicant pool Knoebels has increased its wages and is highlighting the benefits of working at an amusement park, spokeswoman Stacy Yutko said.

"Besides a weekly paycheck, it's free of charge when visiting some other parks, (employees) get discounts on food and rides at Knoebels and we have a scholarship program," she said. There are also events held at the park specifically for employees.

To address its staff shortage, the Heiter Center board agreed to increase its camp counselor pay from $8 an hour to $11 an hour, which Tufo said required boosting the salaries of all other employees which is straining the organization's budget.

"Just doing that increased our annual $274,000 budget by $100,000, and it hasn't helped enough," she said of the persistent scarce number of job-seekers.