About 45,000 Rhode Islanders have lost their federal unemployment benefits, but prodding them back into the workforce to ease a labor shortage in some sectors could prove more difficult than just cutting off their weekly payments.
From the state’s perspective, the top priority is communication, according to Matthew Weldon, director for the
R.I. Department of Labor and Training. While DLT has been sounding the alarm for months, warning benefit recipients that their payments will be ending abruptly, some continued to believe the temporary relief measures – which have been extended several times already – would be continued again. Others thought they could simply reapply for regular state unemployment benefits.
For most, that won’t be the case, Weldon said, a reality that he hoped would set in as bank accounts dwindle. But he also planned to continue messaging through emails and community organizations that might be better able to reach out to the low-income and minority groups that, according to national statistics, make up a large percentage of the unemployed.
“Rhode Island is a pretty small place, and if you can tell a few people who can help you amplify the message, I think the word will get out,” Weldon said.
Getting the word out is only part of the solution. Many of those who have not returned to the workforce face other barriers, such as caregiving for children or elderly relatives and transportation.
In July 2020, the state launched Back to Work RI, a $45 million workforce development program that combines existing workforce training models with one-on-one job coaching and support services such as child care and transportation help.
Of the more than 8,100 people who have taken advantage of some aspect of Back to Work RI, 14% have used these “wraparound services” to help pay for child care, a bus pass, car repairs or other costs associated with their jobs, according to Weldon.
These types of payments are certainly helpful but are only a short-term solution to what are long-term barriers, said Linda Katz, policy director for the Economic Policy Institute.
To Katz, the high demand for these assistance programs, as well as for the temporary federal unemployment benefits aimed at gig and contract workers who would not traditionally qualify, proves the need to modernize the unemployment insurance program.
Katz said wage increases and better benefits packages are needed to get people back into the workforce, particularly in industries such as food services and hospitality.
Of course, many in the hard-hit hospitality sector maintain they cannot afford these increases, especially as they lose student workers who softened the labor shortage for the summer but now have returned to high school and college.
The loss of summer help is an annual occurrence but particularly problematic this year because employers are already operating below full staffing, said Sarah Bratko, lobbyist for the
Rhode Island Hospitality Association.
“Everyone just has less breathing room, so that impact is a little more felt,” she said.
Several of the southern Rhode Island fine-dining restaurants owned by
Newport Restaurant Group are closing sections of their dining rooms because of staffing shortages worsened by the loss of student workers, according to Casey Riley, chief operating officer.
Riley wanted the state to do more to promote hospitality jobs, even for those not looking to make it a career.
“Working in hospitality is a great job to learn how to work, how to relate to people, to get work experience,” Riley said. “I think [the state] could do a better job of celebrating and promoting that.”
Weldon said the state was looking to get people into temporary jobs if need be, knowing that a more permanent career could come later. The longer unemployed residents remain out of work, the more dire the consequences, he warned.
“If people don't go back to work now, we’re going to have a chilling effect on our economy,” he said. “I am concerned about the long-term impact for working families as a whole if we don’t see things pick up a little bit.”
Eliminate unemployment checks, food stamps and all the other bogus “freebies” for the unemployed. That’ll get them to work.
EXACTLY RAY! Bring back “PRIDE” in your job and paying your bills! Pride and asperation of living a better life for you and your offspring! What happened to that AMERICAN DREAM!