Shasta County employers still navigating post-pandemic economy
As the North State’s economy enters a third summer since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, local employers continue to be challenged to find workers.
And it doesn’t appear that will change much over the next few months.
“We haven’t seen a large increase in the number of people looking for work. That’s still a struggle for businesses to find qualified candidates,” said Michelle Nystrom, regional director of O2 Employment Services in Redding.
“We are starting to see a hiring slowdown in some areas because businesses are kind of holding back, not really sure what the economy is going to do,” she added.
And the reshuffling of the labor force, spurred by the Great Resignation, is an ongoing thing as workers affected by the pandemic decided to quit their previous jobs and look for workers that better met their needs — more money, more flexible work schedule or the ability to work from home.
This is all taking place as, according to the job numbers, Shasta County’s economy has never been better.
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The unemployment rate in Shasta reached an all-time low of 3.4% in May, the state recently reported. The previous low was 3.9% in September 2019, five months before the pandemic hit.
“So we are in a weird stage right now. We have all these jobs available, but we have people who don’t want to go back to work,” said Sheila Stock, a state labor analyst whose focus is Shasta County. “Those same people are no longer getting unemployment benefits or disability benefits, so they may have found a way to stay home.”
Still, the SMART Workforce Center has been buzzing for months with job-seekers. The center in Redding posts job listings, offers job training and help with resumes.
Wendy Zanotelli, CEO of SMART, said this fiscal year, which ends June 30, the job center has already helped 120 more people than what’s required in its grant contract. SMART receives state and federal grants to help job-seekers.
“We haven’t done that in a decade,” Zanotelli said of the number of people served this year. “There’s definitely people coming in looking for our services and looking to retrain into jobs available.”
Over the past 90 days, the SMART center has posted 1,843 unduplicated jobs.
Health care, government and hospitality are the sectors most in need of workers, Zanotelli said.
With job positions going unfilled, Nystrom said some employers are asking their employees to do more.
“There are a lot more employers having to look at things like overtime for current employees,” she said, “and again they have to weigh that with the retention factor because coming out of COVID, people don’t want to do overtime. That work-life balance is much more important to people coming out of the pandemic.”
Meanwhile, fewer people looking for work are reflected in Shasta County’s labor force, which stood at 73,400.
The labor force is the working-age population including those employed and those looking for work.
In May 2012, Shasta County’s labor force was at 75,900.
David Benda covers business, development and anything else that comes up for the USA TODAY Network in Redding. He also writes the weekly “Buzz on the Street” column. He’s part of a team of dedicated reporters that investigate wrongdoing, cover breaking news and tell other stories about your community. Reach him on Twitter @DavidBenda_RS or by phone at 1-530-338-8323. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today.
