Chamber CEO Pushes Back On Unemployment Report

By BOBBIE GREEN

The Progress

Business has returned to northeastern Clark County as restrictions and capacity limits associated with COVID-19 have gradually been relaxed. And jobs have returned as well. But business-owners and managers in Mesquite have reported having trouble filling those positions.

“Pretty much every business manager in Mesquite is trying to hire now, but having trouble filling positions,” said Carol Kolson, President and CEO of the Mesquite Chamber of Commerce. “I have talked to many of them and I can hear the desperation in their voices. These are people that are literally exhausted trying to take up the slack and do the work of three people because they can’t find workers.”

And so, when the Nevada Department of Employee Training and Rehabilitation (DETR) recently released a report showing that unemployment numbers had climbed slightly in April, Kolson said that she couldn’t keep silent about it.

Kolson related the experience to Chamber members at the monthly membership luncheon held on Wednesday, June 9 at the Oasis Grill.

“I called the DETR office and said, ‘I can’t report these numbers or my phone will ring off the hook with business-managers telling me its wrong’,” Kolson said.

The release stated that unemployment in Nevada was at 8 percent in April. Clark County and metro Las Vegas currently are top on the list at 9 percent.

“Fourteen of the state’s counties saw an increase (in unemployment rate) from March 2021, while only three saw a decrease,” the DETR release stated.

This last statement was what got Kolson mobilized. She worried that it could lead policy-makers to think that more stimulus and unemployment benefits are needed.

“The Mesquite Chamber represents about 300 businesses in the community,” Kolson said. “Their experience has been vastly different from what was expressed by that statement. So we realized that we need a seat at the table and we expected to be heard.”

Kolson said that she emailed her contact at DETR to express the experience from the Mesquite perspective. This led to a representative at DETR giving her a follow-up call to discuss it in more detail.
Kolson said that her message was clear in those conversations.

“The businesses in this town cannot find workers to hire for their business, because the government is paying workers too much money not to work,” Kolson said. “The COVID Federal Pandemic

Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) money was needed for a time and we understand that it was necessary to help folks when businesses were shuttered and people couldn’t work. But now with businesses fully open we need people back at work again. The extra $300/month unemployment benefits along with the stimulus funding is keeping people home.”

Kolson related that Mesquite business managers have reported candidates coming to job interviews, asking the rate of pay for the position and then saying that they get more than that to stay on unemployment.

“Of course, the employer does not want to hire someone who is not interested in the job,” Kolson said. “But now that person has fulfilled the minimum requirement of applying for a job and can now keep getting unemployment checks. So all of this is just shooting the small business owners in the foot.”
Kolson said that she has also heard reports from local business managers, that some job candidates have been “gaming the system” by getting hired, coming to work one day, then quitting. They just ask for their day’s pay and then switch to some other job for one day. In doing this, they are fulfilling their minimum requirement of applying for a job. So they can keep getting unemployment checks as well as pocket the one day’s pay from different employers.

“It is called double dipping,” Kolson said.

Not long after the call with DETR, Kolson said she received a call from someone at the Governor’s Office. During this call, she again discussed the stimulus checks and the unemployment supplement even further. She talked about how wages had increased during this labor shortage.

“The payscale has definitely stepped up significantly to try to draw people to fill positions,” Kolson said. “So that is really not an excuse anymore for people not going back to work.”

Kolson learned that business owners and other citizens can share their concerns and comments with the Governor’s office on this and other matters. She shared an online link with Chamber members where input could be submitted and she recommended that Chamber membership begin leaving feedback there. To give input go to https://gov.nv.gov/Forms/Share/ .

The supplemental unemployment benefit is scheduled to expire on September 4 of this year. Kolson urged Chamber members to leave feedback to the legislature and the Governor’s office to not extend the program and to scale back on any further stimulus funding. This may encourage people to return back to work, she said.

“It is the job of the Chamber of Commerce to be an advocate for its members,” Kolson said. “That is what we are doing in this case, and many others.”