Sioux Falls Parks and Recreation has found the magic solution to the workforce shortage—raise wages:
Last summer, starting lifeguard pay was $10.50 per hour. The severe shortage of takers forced the closure of the pools at McKennan Park, Kuehn Park, and Frank Olson Park.
Once the city boosted lifeguard wages to $14 per hour, it received enough applicants and made enough hires to open Kuehn Park’s pool in Mid-July.
The number bumped to $16 an hour for this summer. And, poof, the 77 full-time lifeguard positions were hired to open every pool [John Gaskins, “Sioux Falls Raises Wages to Find More Parks and Pool Workers,” KSFY, 2022.03.21].
As the Center for American Progress said last December and as Sioux Falls Parks and Rec just discovered, the problem isn’t a shortage of workers; it’s a shortage of good jobs, jobs that pay people what deserve for the value they are adding. And remember: the more you pay those lifeguards, the more they’ll spend around town, keeping your kids and your economy afloat:
When employers create better jobs—with higher wages and benefits—they can stimulate the economy by better enabling low- and middle-income households to spend and spur economic activity in their communities and by giving businesses a more stable, productive workforce. Supporting a tight labor market would not just be good for workers; it would be good for employers and the overall economy [Justin Schweitzer and Rose Khattar, “It’s a Good Jobs Shortage: The Real Reason So Many Workers Are Quitting,” Center for American Progress, 2021.12.07].
Sioux Falls Parks and Rec proves a lesson that will be hard for a lot of South Dakota employers: you just can’t get by on the cheap. Pay good wages, and the workers will come.
I’ve been saying this for years. If you pay them they will come. When the North Dakota oil boom was going wages in that area went up and people from around the country were showing up looking for work.
“Getting by on the cheap” has been, is, and will be this state’s standard operating procedure as long as it is happy (apparently) having the Republican party as a one-party state.
There you have it. Pay people what they’re worth and you get plenty of people applying. I assume much of that pay will be saved to pay college expenses, but some of it will go to local retailers, because young folks need stuff, like computers, pizza and beer. So the whole community will benefit from treating workers as if they mattered.