SPOTLIGHT: In certain sectors, staffing shortages persist
According to the American Hotel & Lodging Association, the vast majo of hotels in the US say they’re experiencing staffing shortages. To lure new staffers, hotels are offering a “host of incentives,” according to a new survey.
82% of survey respondents said they are experiencing a staffing shortage in their hotel; 26% indicated that the staffing shortage is severe and is “impacting the hotel’s ability to operate.”
40% of hotels ranked housekeeping as their “top hiring need.”
To attract new staffers, 75% of hotels say they’re increasing wages. 64% said they are offering greater flexibility with hours and 36% reported expanding benefits.
The number of hotels that are experiencing staffing shortages is up from 79% in January 2023. However, the latest figure is notably down from May 2022, when 97% of hotels reported experiencing staffing shortages.
Read more via Hotel Management
There is an ongoing shortage of qualified workers when it comes to staffing emergency medical services. According to a 2022 study by the American Ambulance Association, “39% of part-time EMT and 55% of part-time paramedic positions went unfilled because of a lack of qualified candidates.”
Arkansas: In Arkansas, one county reported having a paramedic work a 120 hour shift with just five hours of sleep. Logan County has just 12 EMTs and four paramedics to serve the entire county, and officials say the staff they do have spends “a big portion of their workday … on the road transporting patients outside the area.” The county is trying to “figure out how to fund long-term pay raises and avoid outsourcing to a private company.”
Maine: Legislators are discussing a new proposal that would involve spending $25 million “to address EMS staffing shortages across the state.” Since 2021, almost a third of the state’s EMTs have quit. Officials say they’re leaving because of burnout as well as higher paying opportunities elsewhere. In some areas in Maine, EMTs are working 80- to 100-hour weeks.
New York: According to the New York Department of Health, 30 volunteer ambulance providers in the state shut their doors during the course of the pandemic. EMS services remain “stretched thin,” with regional agencies “having to work together to provide support to one another amid the devastating workforce crisis.”
Wisconsin: According to a 2023 report from the Wisconsin Office of Rural Health, more than 40% of state EMS agencies “had staffing gaps where no ambulance was available for emergency calls.”
"It's an absolute crisis. We have continual paramedics hitting the exit doors and leaving the field.”
“Staffing for EMS means life and death – it means somebody’s not showing up to a call, an ambulance not arriving.”
Read more via WXII, Spectrum Local News, 5NewsOnline, PBS Wisconsin, WGME, Wisconsin Office of Rural Health
The staffing shortage at prisons across the US continues. As of late 2022, the prison workforce was down nearly 20% nationwide. Experts say the shortage “threatens officers, inmates, and the public’s safety.” Union officials say attrition and lack of new candidates is due to “declining morale,” exhaustion, and mandatory overtime, which they say has “skyrocketed” as the staffing shortages continue.
Unions continue to be vocal about what they say are dangerously understaffed facilities:
Maryland: According to a new report by the largest union of state workers, Maryland has an extreme staffing shortage of more than 3,400 workers across the state’s 19 correctional facilities.
New York: In New York, unions have hung a banner on the side of one highway, saying the nearby federal prison is “dangerously understaffed,” and asking the community if it “feels safe.”
Ohio: Union officials are attributing a recent prison escape to understaffing at a Lima, Ohio prison. The facility in question is “currently short 48 correctional officers,” resulting in “mandatory 16-hour shifts on back-to-back days.”
“At one point we were first responder heroes, and now it’s like we’re the forgotten profession of law enforcement.”
Read more via Spectrum News, Maryland Matters, News Nation
Across the United States, states and municipalities are facing the “worst shortages on record” when it comes to lifeguards. Approximately half of the country’s more than 300,000 public pools will be “forced to close their doors or reduce hours,” according to the American Lifeguard Association. The association reports that “low salaries, a lack of qualified applicants and rigorous testing” are making hiring difficult, if not impossible, in some areas.
Colorado: The state is hoping grants aimed at recruiting new lifeguards will help ameliorate the problem.
Florida: Finding year-round lifeguards to staff pools and beaches continues to be difficult statewide. Officials in some areas say they make do but can “never cover the seven days a week we're supposed to."
Massachusetts: Some cities are offering incentives to “entice potential lifeguards with higher wages and even offering reimbursements for lifeguard training courses to sweeten the deal.”
New York: New York City is “confronting its worst lifeguard shortage on record,” a fact officials say is “partly the result of a bitter fight between the city and the little-known but extraordinarily powerful unions that represent lifeguards.” New York City offered a 9% pay increase and sign-on bonus, but remains unable to fill two thirds of the roles.
New Jersey: New Jersey state parks are “broadening their search” for lifeguards by opening up applications to 15-year-olds. The state hopes the Junior life guard role will help avoid a repeat of 2021, when they “had to prohibit swimming at four state park lakes due to guard shortages.”
"We have over 309,000 public pools and we're looking at an impact of over 50% of them being closed or having a reduction in hours.”
Read more via CBS News, Fox Business, NPR, NJ.com, New York Times, WWLP, Axios
