Pulaski Times

As the June 26 deadline approaches for the final installment of Arkansas' supplementary unemployment benefits per Gov. Asa Hutchinson, many businesses are still having problems finding enough employees.

Jeffery Williams, general manager of Little Rock's Soul Fish Cafe, said his business is one of the many places struggling to find enough employees to meet the unusually high demand. 

"We are setting record sales since March and have more customers than we can handle," Williams told Pulaski Times. "Hiring new people right now is like finding a unicorn. It's very hard to find employees and very rare to make a new hire."

Jeffrey Williams | Contributed photo

Williams believes that Hutchinson made the right call in ending the additional $300 per week in supplementary unemployment compensation, but he says potential employees are still giving reasons as to why they cannot come back to work. 

"Childcare for some is an issue," Williams said. "Some people are also afraid to get sick from working with the public, and some found other careers while the hospitality industry was closed last year."

Williams offered some suggestions on how Arkansas could promote getting employees back into the workforce. 

"Instead of extra unemployment, how about a bonus to get back to work after 90 days?" he offered "Also, more child-care options for single parents." 

A recent New York Times report said that, typically, an Arkansas worker could earn more while collecting unemployment than going back to work because of the additional federal assistance. Another study done by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that two-thirds of people who were laid off because of the pandemic were in fact making more through unemployment than they were making while working. 

A University of Chicago study found that states cutting down the amount of unemployment benefit recipients accounted for 75% of increased job growth. CBS News reported that several other states besides Arkansas have opted out of the extra federal unemployment dollars offered by the COVID-19 relief package and the governors of those states have incentivized employees to get back to work.