The newspaper says that restaurant openings at the airport are delayed due to lack of labor. Some jobs offer up to $18 per hour and still don't have takers. One reason is because would-be workers can pick and choose where they want to work, and the airport is not a popular place to work because it is far from where most workers live and it can take three weeks to get a security badge issued. And you can't start until the badge is issued. So applicants learn that and decide to take a different offer somewhere else, where they can start the next day.
It’s a problem facing many restaurants, retailers and service providers at the
new $4.1 billion airport, where managers expect travel to cruise above pre-pandemic levels by fall. Food concession managers report 20% to 50%, if not more, of their airport jobs remain unfilled, and retail is reporting vacancies of up to 30%, according to airport officials.
“I can tell you that one of our concessionaires is paying $18 an hour for [cooks], which is stunning to me,” the airport’s
executive director, Bill Wyatt, recently told The Salt Lake Tribune editorial board. “I remember we just had a national debate about a $15 minimum wage.”
And it’s not just food and retail businesses that are struggling to keep up with traveler demand.
“We can’t find people to push wheelchairs,” Wyatt said. “We can’t find transportation security officers. We can’t find construction workers.”
https://www.sltrib.com/news/2021/06/...ake-citys-new/