Despite restrictions being lifted and small businesses opening throughout New Mexico a year after the COVID-19 pandemic began, many restaurants and other small businesses continue to struggle to remain open and find employees, KOAT Action News reports.
Albuquerque's Fresquez Companies, for example, is having trouble finding enough employees to fill job vacancies, despite offering a $500 sign-on bonus, the Albuquerque Journal said.
“I think part of it is, it’s almost like we’re competing with unemployment,” Administrative Assistant for Fresquez Companies Dory Nunez told the Albuquerque Journal. "Why would anybody want to, I guess, start at a minimum-wage job when they can be earning more money…on unemployment?”
Ernie C’deBaca, president and CEO of the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce, agrees that people currently make more from unemployment, so they are not as willing to look for or begin employment.
“The additional money that people are getting while they’re unemployed, plus the fact that they don’t have to seek jobs as they normally would, is creating a difficult environment for people wanting to hire," C'deBaca said, as reported by the Albuquerque Journal.
Matt DiGregory, owner of the Range Cafe, told KOAT Action News that one issue he believes needs to be resolved is the county color code system under effect by the governor, and DiGregory believes it should be eliminated altogether.
"I agree it needs to be a little more lenient. The stopping and starting, and opening and closing, and changing the parameters has been the most difficult part of this whole process," DiGregory told KOAT Action News.
According to Carol Wight, CEO of the New Mexico Restaurant Association, other factors contributing to employees not coming back to work include schools not being open full-time and some qualified employees moving to states with fewer restrictions, such as Texas and Arizona, KRQE reports.
The New Mexico Business Coalition highlights that New Mexican unemployment benefits range from $90 to $484 per week, with an additional $300 available weekly through the end of September from federal funds as part of the COVID-19 relief package.
The Albuquerque Journal reports that in March, the New Mexico unemployment rate stood at 8.3% and, despite small businesses offering sign-on bonuses and other employment incentives, most agree that this situation will require more than incentives to be resolved.
Small businesses can report to the unemployment programs an employee's refusal to work, under the employer account of the Unemployment Insurance Tax and Claims System.