Peoria Standard

Illinois GOP Chairman Don Tracy laments too many businesses are facing the same crisis.

“Cities and towns across America are re-opening and attempting to get back to normal,” Tracy said in a recent weekly email. “Yet, businesses are still suffering – especially right here in Illinois. In Pekin, Two P’s Pizza and Pub has been forced to close its doors early because there aren’t enough people to help keep it open during regular business hours.”

Tracy laments that’s just one example, also pointing to how the Pekin Park District has also seen a decline in job applicants.

“Meanwhile in Peoria, the owner of the Untamed Chef has been forced to hit pause on expanding her business because she cannot find workers, and in St. Charles, Bison Gear & Engineering is struggling to find workers to operate machinery on the factory floor,” he said. 

Republican lawmakers contend the shortage of workers is due to the continuation of unemployment benefit extensions and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), which they argue are severely hampering restaurants looking to hire as COVID-19 restrictions are being eased.

“The problem that we are facing now and has caused us to pivot again is staffing,” Rathskeller general manager John Clark told WGN. “We are just not getting applicants. At this point, we have zero applications on three to four different media that we’re trying to push out for applications.”

Clark is among those attributing the malaise to the unemployment extension, which he charges incentivizes people to continue staying home instead of going back to work.

“I’ve seen other restaurant owners post that they had 12 interviews and only two showed up, out of those 12,” he said. “I think obviously unemployment and unemployment benefits extension is going to help people stay home during this tough time. Unfortunately, it’s hard to compete with that when they are going to make less going to work.”