Maine
Maine employers are struggling to find foreign workers ahead of tourism season
Ron Corridor expects an energetic tourism season in Maine, with summer time camps opening totally all through the state and lots of already utterly booked.
It’s a marked distinction from final 12 months, when most camps opened however have been at 80 p.c capability. In 2020, solely 25 of the 140 girls and boys camps belonging to Maine Summer season Camps have been open and working at solely half capability due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Issues are lingering regardless of robust demand from campers. Corridor, govt director of the nonprofit group, stated he nonetheless expects that camps will have the ability to rent solely half of the three,400 short-term overseas employees they usually get. They aren’t alone.
Visas granted to abroad college students working in Maine for about 4 months are a key a part of the workforce at Maine campgrounds, accommodations, eating places, amusement parks and nationwide parks all through the tourism season, which is anticipated to be even higher this 12 months after a powerful restoration in 2021. Consultants count on a shortfall in these J-1 visas to have an effect on most of them.
J-1 employees, together with the long term H-2B visa holders, usually make up about 10 p.c of the hospitality summer time workforce. Journey restrictions that induced a precipitous drop within the variety of visa employees in 2020 have largely ended, however sluggish processing at embassies and the struggle in Ukraine are dampening the variety of J-1 visa holders, leaving many Maine companies to cobble collectively methods equivalent to increased pay and housing presents to draw home employees.
“I don’t really feel all heat and fuzzy concerning the employee scenario,” Greg Dugal, director of presidency affairs for the trade group HospitalityMaine, stated. “We’re nonetheless mild about 30,000 workers within the state.”
A restoration to pre-pandemic ranges could also be far off. Maine had 59 p.c fewer J-1 visas in 2021 in comparison with 2019, in line with a nationwide ballot by the Alliance for Worldwide Alternate, a Washington, D.C.-based public coverage group targeted on schooling and cultural trade.
Nationally, J-1 visas have been down 63 p.c in contrast with 2019. Consequently, 60 p.c of companies misplaced income and 90 p.c fell wanting staffing wants. In Maine, the 26 companies surveyed reported whole losses of $5.9 million, roughly $226,962 per enterprise.
A part of the issue is that embassies are nonetheless getting again on-line after shutting down or chopping employees early within the pandemic. Dugal stated most companies will probably be short-staffed with solely between 60 and 80 p.c of the folks they want and must make selections primarily based on having a shortfall. That might harm the smaller companies most as a result of even one individual getting sick might set off a brief closure.
The scenario has prompted governors, together with Maine’s Janet Mills, t0 signal a letter to President Joe Biden asking him to prioritize processing of J-1 visas. The letter nonetheless is being circulated for signatures. It emphasizes the advantages of the visas to state economies, particularly to seasonal companies.
Even with the J-1 shortfall in 2022, extra employees are anticipated than final 12 months, giving some reduction to companies, stated Phil Simon, vice chairman {of professional} trade packages at CIEE, a South Portland nonprofit that sponsors J-1 visas.
“We’re one a part of the image,” Simon stated. “Home recruitment is difficult.”
Scott Shelton, basic supervisor at Hampton by Hilton in Bar Harbor, is recruiting employees nationally to forged a broader internet. He expects to stand up to 10 J-1 visa employees, a key a part of his 60 employees members he’s on observe to have this summer time.
At Abel’s Lobster in Bar Harbor, proprietor Mandy Fountaine hopes to get 5 H-2B visa employees on her first try to make use of visa employees, however with excessive demand, she doesn’t count on to get any.
She wants further employees this 12 months as she opens a second restaurant this spring. She is utilizing referral bonuses, higher wages and restricted housing to draw home employees. However with so many companies searching for employees, she expects most of them gained’t be totally staffed.
If Fountaine can’t get sufficient employees, she could should repeat what she did final summer time at Abel’s, when she reduce to being open solely 4 days per week.
“Once I say I want 100 employees, I might in all probability use 120,” she stated. “However 100 is what I want at least.”