Help wanted on Outer Banks: Tourists are there — but workers aren’t, businesses say
It’s never easy to find seasonal workers on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, where summers can feel like paradise but housing is limited.
This season, business owners say a number of factors related to COVID-19 have made it essentially impossible to hire employees — a major problem as pandemic-weary tourists are flocking to the popular barrier islands.
“I’m almost at the point of begging people to work,” said Charles Obrien, owner of Miss Kitty’s Old Time Photos and Gifts in Corolla.
Coastal communities beyond the Outer Banks are facing the same problem, even as more people get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Experts say some people still worry about the potential health risks of working in crowded settings such as restaurants. And some businesses that depend on hiring foreign students are out of luck because of coronavirus travel restrictions and a slow-down in the processing of visas.
On the Outer Banks, a record-breaking number of people are coming for vacation, and more visitors means a greater need for workers, said Karen Brown, president and CEO of the Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce.
Without enough servers and cooks, some restaurants have had to close on some days.
“We initially planned on being open seven days a week like we do at every other location we have,” Ashley McGrath — owner of McGrath’s Burger Shack, whichopened for its first season on Nags Head — told the Outer Banks Voice. “We will now be closed Sundays and Mondays.”
But other industries, such as hotels and home rentals, aren’t able to make such changes, Brown said.
“We’re really thankful we have all these people here,” Brown said of tourists. “But we’re hoping everybody has a lot of patience this summer.”
‘Worse than it’s ever been’
Obrien said he usually has between six and nine employees at Miss Kitty’s, which has been open 21 seasons in Corolla.
But he’s on his own this year, except when his neighbor takes “pity” on him and helps out. He said this is the first season he hasn’t been able to hire any help at all.
“It’s worse than it’s ever been,” he said.
He had to alter how he operates the business, opening an hour later and working until “I can’t work any longer.” He said he can’t afford to turn away business but doesn’t know how much further he can push himself.
Obrien said he thinks it’s hard to attract workers partly because the government is “paying people to stay home.” The federal CARES Act signed into law in March 2020 provided a $600 weekly boost in unemployment benefits to those affected by the pandemic. The amount has since been lowered to $300 a week.
Brown said unemployment benefits may be playing a role in that they make it easier for people, “in their minds,” to avoid putting themselves at risk of contracting COVID-19.
The pandemic has also altered some people’s lifestyles, Brown said, including parents who now need to be home with their children who are learning remotely or because working in person no longer fits their schedules.
Beyond that, the Outer Banks relies on international students and workers to fill seasonal roles. Each year, the islands typically get 1,700 J-1 visa students who usually work multiple jobs and fill about 3,000 positions, Brown said.
Without them, she said, “that creates a huge hole.”
Additionally, she said COVID-19 has shifted housing trends.
Long-term rentals are typically hard to come by for seasonal and year-round workers, but many owners have recently decided to sell their homes because the housing market is “so strong.” Others with summer homes on the Outer Banks decided to stay there year-round during the pandemic, meaning more rentals that would normally be available are occupied.
Desperate to find housing for lifeguards this summer, the town of Nags Head put out an official plea for help.
While Nags Head has a year-round population of 3,000, more than 30,000 people are there each day in May through August, the town says. Meanwhile, there are fewer than 5,000 housing units, most of which serve as short-term rentals.
“The Town’s standing as a family-focused destination relies upon the safety of its beaches,” officials said in their request for information about available housing.
A problem elsewhere
Further south along the North Carolina coast in the Wilmington area, restaurants are struggling to hire back employees lost when they shut down at the beginning of the pandemic, Port City Daily reports.
“It’s just a job that people really don’t want anymore, I guess,” Josh Petty, owner of Cast Iron Kitchen in Wilmington, told the newspaper. “It’s not like it used to be. I remember, growing up, you always worked in a restaurant. It was like a rite of passage.”
In Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, businesses also experienced a shortage of workers when they reopened to the hundreds of thousands of people visiting the area after shutting down last March, the Sun News reports. Hotels, restaurants and retail stores struggled to keep up as many couldn’t find enough employees.
Other popular tourist destinations across the country are expecting a busy summer, The Associated Press reports, but business owners have warned that they could have to limit occupancy or hours due to worker shortages made worse by the pandemic.
And elsewhere in the U.S., restaurants are struggling to find enough workers as they prepare for a busy season as more Americans get vaccinated and go out to eat, McClatchy News reported.
Brown said she thinks the shortages will ease as the pandemic does, because international students will be able to return and more parents may feel comfortable allowing their teenagers to work when there’s a lower risk of contracting the virus.
“I think this may be the peak of it for us,” she said.
This story was originally published April 28, 2021 at 10:46 AM with the headline "Help wanted on Outer Banks: Tourists are there — but workers aren’t, businesses say."
