South Dakota tourism faces a labor shortage, thanks to coronavirus cutting off our tourist traps’ access to cheap foreign labor and to fewer kids available to sling burgers at Wall Drug. Yet even as they insist demand remains high for their services, the head of South Dakota’s Tourism Advisory Board finds it acceptable for tourism businesses to create an expectation that rural residents should work for free:
Board president Kristi Wagner of Whitewood said a lot of rural communities are turning to volunteers to fill the gap because the youth workforce isn’t there like it was a generation or two ago. People are passionate about where they live, she said. “We’re going to provide the best – whatever it takes” [Bob Mercer, “As Covid Slows Flow of Foreign Workers, BHSU Experiments with a Faster-Track Tourism Degree,” KELO-TV, 2021.04.08].
There we go again, manipulating South Dakotans’ love of place to justify our failure to pay market rates for the labor we need to turn a profit. Wagner says tourism businesses will do “whatever it takes” to keep their doors open and serve the hordes of visitors who butter our bread… but apparently “whatever it takes” doesn’t include competitive wages.
Related Stats: South Dakota isn’t the worst for tourism-related wages. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2020 dataset, South Dakota workers in the broad category of food preparation and serving-related occupations made an average of $11.77 per hour. That’s better than the average food service wage in sixteen other states… but if we’re talking about seasonal jobs, it’s not enough to pull the average worker away from steady year-round work at Wal-Mart.
“Whatever it takes” should mean getting pot ready to market ASAP. Problem solved.
“Whatever it takes” is the South Dakota phrase for “slavery.” Yes, South Dakota needs a good civics and history refresher for idiots like Kristi Wagner, who apparently skipped American History in high school.
The seasonal burger flippers and dish hole workers of Wall Drug are featured in the Oscar nom, “NOMADLAND” from director Chloe Zao of SD favorite “THE RIDER” fame.
Now, 275 sheriffs in 39 states are openly coordinating with a designated hate group [“FAIR”] in order to spread disinformation and promote a “majority-white population” agenda. SPLC
Maybe educate elected sheriffs (and governors) before tackling our young people.
Link https://actionnetwork.org/forms/tell-the-doj-to-investigate-the-infiltration-of-local-law-enforcement-by-white-supremacist-groups
Amazing, power abuses and absolute power abuses absolutely!!! It would be great to have the tourist board members and their families volunteer to fill the places without compensation!!! That appears to go over like a lead baloon!!
New Mexico knows how to do business “SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham was set Monday to sign legislation that will legalize recreational marijuana use and sales in the state, making it the seventh since last November to do so.
The governor, a Democrat, has supported marijuana reform as a way to create jobs and shore up state revenue.”
It truly is time for South Dakota’s tourism industry to wake up and pay decent wages. In my opinion, that is one of the main issues preventing filling many of these positions. That, as well as many people on unemployment are making more than they would if they worked. However, this (unemployment) only lasts for so long.
Bottom line, we can’t expect unpaid volunteers to do what the tourism industry was willing pay for just this past year or two. Ms. Wagner, in addition to civics and history, must have also missed her economics 101 class. She’s only playing her fiddle (or having a pity party) to her own organization/industry.
South Dakota……Home of the small thinkers and big stinkers.
There are jobs in our community as well. There are kids (don’t want to work) and people for these jobs. The wages are minimum and covid checks are more than they can make at these jobs. We have people and youth that don’t want to wrk and/or living comfortable without working ,
Reminiscent of one of South Dakota’s state universities where–and this was decades ago—its vice-president’s secretary was delegated the responsibility of finding faculty volunteers to vacuum the faculty lounge every week. Not that the faculty themselves weren’t effectively paying an annual 15% load upfront just for the privilege of working in South Dakota since they were hired at 85% the going faculty salary of the Oklahoma salary study comprised of comparable universities in surrounding states..