It has only become harder to recruit and retain a workforce in West Marin over the course of the pandemic, business owners and economists say. The decades-long issue is hampering businesses from reaching their full potential, despite a summer boom of tourists who are ready to spend.
Help-wanted ads are getting almost no response. Without a full staff, existing workers are stretched thin, and some businesses have had to cut back on hours. The restaurant industry has been particularly hard hit, and the issue is nationwide.
The Marin Economic Forum launched a business retention and expansion project in late 2019. Following surveys, interviews and economic analyses, the forum published a report in March 2020, days before the Covid-19 crisis took over. The number-one challenge for businesses was hiring, and economists concluded that the resident workforce was not aligned with job demand. The county relies on an imported workforce in the service industry, while higher-wage workers who live in Marin generally commute elsewhere.
“Comparing the challenges and priorities of Marin businesses pre- and post-Covid shows very little difference, which can be both positive and negative,” said Mike Blakely, C.E.O. of the Marin Economic Forum. “On the one hand, despite a major, once-in-a lifetime economic shock, our economy is mostly on a path to recovery. On the other, returning to the status quo will present old problems, which were already difficult to deal with and have not been changed due to the pandemic.”
There are many factors leading to the labor shortage on the coast. As the cost of living in Marin increased, the population declined by 1 percent, or 2,614 people, according to Department of Finance data. Yareli Cervantes, the emergency assistance manager at West Marin Community Services, said many of the people she helped with rental assistance had to change their addresses. They couldn’t make ends meet, so they left the area.
A lack of childcare has meant that employees can’t come back or are limited to part-time. Some took new career paths, and others still have health and safety concerns. Public transportation is still a need. The latest unemployment rate in Marin is 4.6 percent.
“Our expansion potential is frozen until the workforce returns,” said Sheryl Cahill, the owner of the Side Street Kitchen and the Station House Café. “We are unable to fully reopen for allowable capacity or expand our menus, hours of operation or days open. All of these limitations affect our earning potential, which we need to be fully realized in order to facilitate recovery from the devastation of the past 15 months.”
Christofer Gutierrez, the head chef at the Whale of a Deli and the new Point Reyes Roadhouse, said his seven employees commute from Sonoma County. Because he is short-staffed, he must close one of the businesses if more than one employee calls out. Tony Miceli, the owner of the Two Bird Café in San Geronimo, said he posted ads online multiple times to no avail, putting more responsibility on his current staff.
As grocers recruit for the summer, they have had some success, a sign that restaurant workers may have shifted industries. The Palace Market hired seven people in the last few weeks and the Stinson Beach Market hired four college students who are home for the summer. Owner Sergio Vergara said it’s been difficult to find a serious, long-term employee who can work full time. He put an ad in the Light for three weeks and said it seemed like it was surrounded by another 20 help-wanted ads.
Some people have blamed government stimulus for keeping people on the sidelines, but there is no evidence that the financial support is keeping people from seeking work, Mr. Blakely said.
Others have blamed business owners for not paying enough, but employers say they can only go so high. Most restaurants start at around $20 an hour in West Marin; menu prices are relatively expensive and margins are slim. Leila Monroe, owner of Smiley’s Schooner Saloon, said people are used to the prices at Chipotle, and if her burritos are too expensive, people will walk away. “The only solution is getting enough volume,” she said.
Another theme that has emerged in the recovering economy is rising prices. Economists are not sure whether it’s inflation in the typical sense, or just some temporary weirdness. Customers have pent-up demand, and the supply of goods is gradually responding. “As there is a mismatch, there are pockets of price pressures,” Mr. Blakely said.
Ken Dunaj, the owner of Point Reyes Building Supply, said the price of lumber has gone up by as much as 220 percent; production was cut back during the pandemic, and mills are now scrambling to meet a surge in building demand. The supply chain is seeing disruptions all over. One week it’s laundry detergent, the next week it’s propane. This week, the store is out of paper plates.
The drought is also a factor. Brittany Hartwell, the manager at the Palace Market, said U.S.D.A. beef prices have risen so much that the store is almost entirely selling beef from Niman Ranch because it’s less expensive.