Unemployment at its lowest since the Great Recession, businesses struggle to find workers

The unemployment rate along the Grand Strand is at its lowest since the Great Recession, according to statistics from the United States Department of Labor, but the lower unemployment rate has businesses struggling to find workers.

In June, the unemployment rate remained at 4.4 percent, and increased to 4.5 percent in July.

The highest the unemployment rate has been since 2008 is 15.8 percent in January 2010. The rate has been on the decline since that time, the statistics show.

With several positions already filled, local businesses are struggling to keep up with a growing economy.

“We haven’t seen a tight labor market like this since the late 90s, and as long as the Grand Strand labor market is growing, it might get worse before it gets better,” Brad Dean, president of the Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce, said. “We’re growing so fast that the number of jobs created are outpacing the growth of the workers coming into the market. It demonstrates how fast our economy is growing, not only with jobs in the tourism sectors, but in other sectors as well. We’ve seen a lot of jobs in healthcare, education and other services.”

In May 2016, the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that 17 percent of workers worked in food preparation and serving, and 15 percent worked in sales. As for education and healthcare positions, 10 percent of workers filled those positions.

Within the past year, over $400 million of new construction was approved in the City of Myrtle Beach, adding new businesses to the area, and creating new jobs.

This saturation, according to Dean, has caused local businesses to turn to international student workers as well as offer overtime to current employees.

“The overtime is a band aid solution that has other consequences in the workplace,” Dean said. “Our population is growing and our economy is growing and right now there’s far more open positions than people willing to fill them.”

Businesses along Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach noticed a decrease in workers through the summer.

“It was very rough,” Vic Shamah, owner of Duffy’s and The Bowery, said. “Every hundred applicants, one or two stayed. We took a lot of applications and they weren’t able to do the job or they worked one or two days and never came back. It was the toughest year in a long time.”

As for long-term solutions, Shamah attributes part of the problem to Myrtle Beach and the tourism industry.

“Myrtle Beach is a very very unique place because you can’t employee the amount of people you want,” Shamah said. “You need to double the staff you have from March and April. In September you gotta cut back your staff. So it’s very hard to keep people who are seasonal. As far as staff we’ll go from 30 to 15.”

The June Ocean Boulevard shooting and the threat of Hurricane Irma did cause Myrtle Beach business to waver, but spring months showed promise, despite the lack of employees.

The boulevard’s iconic Gay Dolphin Gift Cove saw revenue 20 percent over last year, according to owner Buzz Plyler.

“Business was up overall, except for the few slow weeks we had after the June incident,” Shamah said. “The overall year was pretty good. And when it’s good, you need more help.”

This story was originally published September 21, 2017 at 3:21 PM with the headline "Unemployment at its lowest since the Great Recession, businesses struggle to find workers."