Chick-fil-A
- As young summer workers head back to school, some businesses are reducing their hours.
- 2 Chick-fil-A restaurants in Alabama are closing early because of "extremely short staffing."
- Lake Nighthorse in Colorado is closing early and opening late as seasonal workers return to college.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
High school and college employees held many businesses afloat during the summer's national labor shortage. Now, they're heading back to school, forcing many businesses to close early due to a lack of workers.
National chains and local businesses alike are being impacted by what one manager called a "hiring crisis." Two Chick-fil-A restaurants in Alabama are closing early, and three others have closed their dining rooms because they can't find enough staff, Insider's Grace Dean reported.
"We, along with many businesses, are in the middle of a hiring crisis," one Alabama Chick-fil-A posted on Facebook. "We are doing everything we can to hire more team members. We are seeing far less job applicants, people not showing up for their interviews, or accepting a job only to resign within their first couple weeks."
A community pool in West Virginia closed early for the year on August 8 due to a lack of lifeguards, 12 WBOY reported. Parks and recreation director Tony Michalski told the news station that it was unusually hard to retain lifeguards this summer – most of the staff recently returned to Fairmont State University.
Businesses in vacation destinations that rely on seasonal workers may be hit particularly hard by the exodus of college employees.
Lake Nighthorse, a recreational park open to fishing, swimming, and water sports in Durango, Colorado announced it will be operating on reduced hours starting Tuesday. The lake will remain closed for three additional hours each day due to the staff shortage.
"As seasonal staff members leave for college, we simply do not have enough staff to maintain the current hours of operation," Amy Schwarzbach, the park's natural resources manager, said.
Evanston, Illinois hosted a job fair this July advertising 71 open positions, the majority of which were at restaurants. Fewer than 30 people attended the event, The Daily Northwestern reported.
According to Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate, approximately 380,000 jobs were added or recovered in the leisure and hospitality sector in July, which includes bars and restaurants. However, the industry is still 1.7 million jobs away from pre-pandemic levels.
"At the same time, many employers are struggling to attract and hire the workers they want, given the record 10.1 million job openings as of last count," Hamrick told Insider.
