WEST MONROE, La. (KTVE/KARD) – Quite a few business owners here in the Antique Alley say they are experiencing short staffed, an issue they’ve been facing for some time.
The Louisiana workforce commission says just at the end of September 4th unemployment insurance claims rose to 9, 724 from the week ending on August 28th with a total of 2, 060 benefit claims. Local business owner of Luna Piena, Kastriot Gashi says he’s been having a hard time finding people to commit to their shifts.
“We schedule interviews, like every day we’re supposed to have. Today, three people had an interview, between 10-11 o’clock but nobody stopped by.” Says Gashi
Gashi says job opportunities are available in the area, but some people may choose to stay on ‘unemployment benefits’ instead.
“It’s not just only me, other businesses here on Trenton St are having the same problem, all the food restaurants,everybody we deal with, everybody is short, everybody is needing employees . so I think people are just getting unemployment and staying home.” Says Gashi.
Communications director of the West Monroe Chamber of Commerce, Kristopher Kelly, says many reasons why people could still struggle in finding a job is due to lack of resources such as internet access.
“Some people don’t have that opportunity of filling up an entire application and you can’t really do that online through your phone . People might have lost an opportunity but they might have also lost childcare or they also lost their ride because they had to share their ride with someone else, so it’s a lot more complex than “hey I’m searching for a job.” He says.
Kelly also says a job affair will be held on September 16th at the West Monroe Convention Center.