Foreign workers fill tourism-related jobs in Myrtle Beach area

A college student known to his summer co-workers as Phil is spending his vacation dancing to oldies and serving up milkshakes in Johnny Rockets, a 1950s-style diner chain at Broadway at the Beach.

As far as summer jobs go, it doesn't get more all-American than that. Except that Phil, whose full name is Chen Kuan Chi, is Taiwanese.

This summer, hundreds of foreign students like Chen traveled to Myrtle Beach - mainly from Eastern Europe, Ireland and Asia - to work in restaurants, hotels and other tourism-related jobs.

Foreign workers are a vital part of the summer hospitality industry, and in many ways, these students from abroad make ideal seasonal employees, said Sheryl Kline, associate dean of the University of South Carolina's School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management. Even with unemployment above 10 percent in the state, most jobless want year-round employment, not seasonal hospitality jobs, she said.

"Are they taking Americans' jobs? Not if you're thinking of someone who wants to take a job for a livelihood," Kline said. "Could Americans easily do the jobs they do? Yes, but people just don't want to wait tables, or they don't want to clean rooms."

Coming to America

Chen, who attends Taiwan's National Central University 30 minutes outside Taipei, decided in December that he wanted to tag along with a friend who planned to work in the United States for the summer. The two applied for J-1 visas, the type typically used by college students on such work-exchange trips, with the assistance of a Taiwanese company.

The U.S. Embassy officials in Taiwan barely batted an eye before granting them their visas, Chen said.

"One of my friends, he didn't even talk," said Chen, who speaks near fluent English. "[The embassy employee] just looked at the forms and saw J-1, approved."

An American company called Cultural Homestay International then lined up jobs for the students with businesses across the country. Presented with locations from Alaska to Florida, Chen and his friend chose to come to Myrtle Beach. Chen said he was hired at Johnny Rockets after a quick interview with a CHI representative and a 5-minute web video chat with the diner's manager.

The process Chen went through is typical for foreign exchange workers, Kline said, although the U.S. hospitality industry most often draws workers from Eastern Europe or Ireland.

Businesses say hiring these foreign students is a win-win situation for the workers and the industry.

"When we use the foreign exchange, it really helps us in the shoulder seasons when the kids are still in school," said Vince Nicoletti, spokesman for PARC management, which operates Myrtle Waves water park and NASCAR SpeedPark. "We have very few problems with them; they work extraordinarily hard for the most part."

Foreign workers are particularly well-suited to jobs as ride attendants or operators, Nicoletti said, positions that don't require them to speak as much English.

The Ocean Boulevard diner Peaches Corner relies heavily on J-1 visa students for its summer staff, manager Briggs Dickerson said. In the past, the restaurant has hired students from France, Russia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, England, Wales and Turkey, he said. But the bulk of his workers come from Ireland, Dickerson said.

"The biggest thing for that and the reason we hire more Irish than anything is because of the language barrier," he said.

Dickerson has a quick English-language test he uses on applicants, he said.

"I'll say, 'Do you know what lettuce is by chance?' 'Lettuce? Huh? What?' Then I kind of know it may be a little more than we can handle to train someone for such a short period of time," Dickerson said.

It's all about the Benjamins

Chen lives in a two-room unit at The Outrigger Motel with four other students - two Taiwanese and two Chinese. Each pays $47 a week for the motel, where they sleep on two beds, a Murphy bed and a couch with their four bikes lined up against the wall to prevent them from getting stolen.

Cramming into the room helps Chen save money on a trip that is already costing him a lot.

Chen said he paid more than $3,000 to the exchange programs for his visa, job placement and flight. That amount of money would cover his expenses in Taiwan for 10 months, he said.

With most of his U.S. paychecks going toward day-to-day expenses, it's unlikely he'll make that money back, but he doesn't worry about it, he said.

"Even if you make $30 a day, you can survive. For a drink and some cigarettes, it's enough ... without money to do anything else," Chen said.

A summer in Myrtle Beach can be a moneymaker, if you do it right, Russian student Julia Magnitskaya said.

"You can make it if you don't go out every night and spend your money," Magnitskaya said. "Some people just aren't good at money management."

Magnitskaya is working in a restaurant at the Hilton Myrtle Beach Resort for her second consecutive summer and will return to Russia this fall to complete her final year of graduate school. Magnitskaya said she has paid off all the fees and expenses for her trip and will be able to pocket some money before returning to Russia.

If someone is lucky, he can get two jobs and make a lot of money, Magnitskaya said. One student she knew worked 14-hour days at two jobs and was able to save $6,000, giving him enough to start a business in Kiev, Ukraine, she said.

She wanted to find a second job but couldn't make it work with her schedule at the Hilton, she said.

Going home from the holiday

For a large group of Irish students, coming to Myrtle Beach is more about taking a vacation than making money, said Aidan Ryan of County Tipperary.

Ryan, who works at a convenience store on Ocean Boulevard, characterized the 50 or so Irish students in Myrtle Beach as a bit lazy, including himself.

"I wasn't working much at all. I was only working two, three days a week, but then I ran out of money, so I had to work some more," Ryan said.

He got a second job as a server at Peaches Corner in July to boost his earnings for the last month or so of his stay.

Ryan spends his spare time hanging out with the seven other Irish students he lives with in a house just off Ocean Boulevard. He plans to leave Myrtle Beach on Tuesday to travel for two weeks before returning home, he said.

Most students head back to their home country in August or September, and those who had good experiences will likely influence their younger compatriots to go to the same location in subsequent years, Kline said. Ryan and his roommates found the house they live in after an Irish student who came two years ago told them about it, he said.

There are few problems with students overstaying their visas, and many would return home and wait for a new visa rather than jeopardize future trips to the United States, Kline said.

Immigration officials have targeted the hospitality industry to make sure laws are followed, she said.

The students will continue to be a fixture in summer hospitality in the United States and Myrtle Beach because of demographic shifts, she said. There are fewer high school and college students to wait on vacationing adults than in decades past, she said, a shift driven by aging baby boomers. Foreign students help make up the difference, she said.

"The main thing that I see is there is a need for these workers, and they fulfill a service that the industry needs," Kline said. "You'd have a lot longer restaurant lines if you didn't have these students coming over on a J-1 visa."