REHOBOTH BEACH Delaware aEUR
Many of these rides and games will now be operated by students from all over the globe, for the first time since the pandemic.
Chris Darr, Funland’s personnel manager, stated that “they are really important to the success our business.” “We realized last year that we couldn’t fill all the positions we had.”
After a steep decline during the pandemic, the number of immigrants and guest workers coming to the United States has started to rise again. Tens of thousands are returning to amusement parks and resort towns from abroad. Biden’s administration has granted more visas to seasonal workers and is automatically extending work permits to others.
Economists believe that it should alleviate labor shortages aEUR”, and some economists, but not all, believe it could also help calm inflation.
Giovanni Peri, an economist at the University of California Davis, said that if the trend continues and accelerates, there will be an end to some shortages.
Rehoboth Beach businesses rely on seasonal workers
Rehoboth Beach employers are glad to have these student workers back. Darr claims that he wouldn’t be able to hire enough people to keep Funland open each day without them.
Darr, fourth-generation family member who owns the park, said, “Especially at the beginning of the summer, early august, we lose college students. We lose high school students back into sports and theatre programs.”
Funland relied for decades on J-1 visas to bring students to the U.S., he said. The program was almost ended in 2020. Although the numbers were higher than pre-pandemic, they are still below those of last year.
He said, “Without the J-1 visa program we wouldn’t have been able to open half the stuff in the park.”
Darr expects about twenty-one student workers to work this summer aEUR,” including Morgan Bennett, 21, a student from Jamaica.
Bennett stated, “There was a list of all the places I could have worked.” “When someone had asked me what type of job I would have found, I said yes!”
According to the State Department, participation in the summer work travel program has been increasing towards pre-pandemic levels. According to a State Department official about 30,000 people have already signed up for the program this year. There are approximately 50,000 more participants in the pipeline. This would mean that the program has approximately three-quarters its enrollment from 2019, when more than 108,000 visas had been issued.
Adding more guest workers could ease the labor shortage
Peri estimates that the U.S. has about two million fewer working-age immigrants than it was before the Trump administration’s cuts and the pandemic. Peri says this has contributed to a tighter labor marketplace, which has put pressure on employers to increase wages aEUR” and, in turn, prices.
Peri stated that a reduction in the supply of workers could lead to a decrease in inflation. This is especially true for industries like hospitality that heavily rely on immigrant labor.
Susan Wood, owner of the Cultured Pearl Restaurant in Rehoboth Beach and Sushi Bar said that last summer there were 32 people short. It was torture. All of our employees work six-seven days. They committed suicide.”
She said that she worked at the front desk for 183 days and her husband in the kitchen for more.
Wood will also be participating in the J-1 visa programme this year. Wood claims that her year-round staff would have worked overtime without international student workers last summer, which drove up her labor costs.
Wood stated that “we had to increase prices.” Wood stated that although we raised prices due to payroll, it was not as much as the increase required by food costs.
Some economists are skeptical that increasing immigration will solve inflation
Costs of food and energy continue to rise fast. Economists claim that this is contributing to inflation across all sectors of the economy aEUR”, and some are skeptical about whether a partial rebound in guest workers and immigrants will have any tangible impact.
Ramesh Ponnuru is the editor of The National Review and a fellow at American Enterprise Institute. This conservative think-tank is located in Washington.
Ponnuru claims that inflation is caused primarily by supply chain problems and that simply returning immigration to pre-COVID levels will not solve these problems.
“We need an immigration strategy that is economic-friendly. Ponnuru stated that we don’t have this. Ponnuru stated, “And just toggling this so that you have more dysfunctional immigration policies seems to me to make a mistake.”
Thrasher’s French Fries, Rehoboth Beach is already seeing a positive impact from temporary guest workers. Dean Shuttleworth, the general manager, expects about 12 international student workers this summer. This means that he will have enough staff to reopen the location across the street that has been closed since the pandemic.
Shuttleworth stated that “[Memorial Day] weekend marked the first time our 26 Rehoboth Avenue store was opened up in two years.”
“Last year we had more volume. He said that we were very busy. “So, I’m in pretty good health this year.”
Shuttleworth insists that he will raise prices this summer to keep up with rising costs for paper cups and potatoes.
