A new Chamber of Commerce Hawai’i survey reveals that businesses are struggling to hire back workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The commerce surveyed 380 of its members across the state, and 64% said they considered offering incentives — including higher pay and signing bonuses to fill job openings.
“This reinforces what we’re seeing all across the nation,” said Sherry Menor-McNamara, Chamber of Commerce Hawai‘i CEO, in a news release. “Businesses are having a difficult time bringing employees back to work. This situation is repeating itself daily and impacting multiple businesses, large and small.”
“Although the hardest hit industries are hospitality, tourism, and food industry, many more other establishments who have already been severely harmed during the pandemic continue to shoulder the burden by increasing overtime, curb services, and close brick-and-mortar shops several days a week,” she added.
73% of businesses also said that recruitment challenges are putting strains on existing employees and 93% believe the state should require unemployed workers to look for work as a condition of receiving unemployment benefits.
That requirement was waived during the pandemic.