CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — Scioto Valley restaurants are struggling to provide their customers with service due to recent labor shortages.
Many local fast food restaurants closed early on Wednesday.
Restaurants in Chillicothe, such as Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonald’s, and Taco Bell all shuttered their doors hours before their normal closing time.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Ross County has had an unemployment rate of just under 6% since June 2021. That is the same rate the county had in early March of 2020, near the beginning of the pandemic.
Economic experts blame the shortage of workers on low wages and COVID-19.
Governor Mike DeWine has claimed that the government’s COVID-19 unemployment benefits were responsible for the shortage, but now that the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) has come to an end, the staffing numbers remain low.
Ohio opted out of the federal unemployment benefits three months ago without any studies to support the decision. The Governor said the extra $300 a week was causing the labor shortage.
“That extra $300 a week in federal pandemic unemployment compensation is, in some cases, certainly discouraging people from going back at this point in time,” DeWine said in May.
Democrats, including gubernatorial candidate and Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley said DeWine’s decision was politically motivated and that the shortage is due, in part, to poor wages.
Whaley said workers deserve better pay and that’s one reason she’s challenging DeWine in 2022 for the state’s top executive seat.
“As we come out of this crisis, the problem facing Ohioans is the same one we had before coronavirus: Wages are too low,” she said in a statement. “One good job should be enough, and for too many of our friends and neighbors, it isn’t. Mike DeWine is turning down money that could help Ohioans because he’s worried about politics. When I’m governor, I’ll be worried about paychecks.”
Experts say, “We are in the midst of a dangerous trend.”
Families across this country have sought to rejoin the workforce, only to find employers offering unlivable wages.
“When you have a large family it costs a lot to keep things afloat,” said one Chillicothe man. “For a family, our size minimum wage won’t cut it.”