Savannah Standard

When Stokes Holmes received a text message from her employer that Moon River Brewing Co. had reopened, she was among the first to accept the offer to return to work. 

“I like to work and I like my job and we had several people who wanted to come back to work immediately, but a lot of others were questioning the benefits and salary,” Holmes, who is a manager at Moon River Brewing Co., told the Savannah Standard. “We're having a problem hiring in our kitchen. That's our problem area."

Moon River Brewing Co. isn’t the only restaurant struggling to find workers. 

Businesses statewide are facing a worker shortage because the average Georgia employee earns more collecting unemployment benefits with additional federal pandemic assistance than reporting to a job, according to media reports. 

In April 2021, News 4 noted that 82% of Georgians receiving unemployment benefits earned less than $20,000 per year in their previous employment, but with the federal unemployment insurance supplements, these individuals received an equivalent salary of $28,808.

“This is a very well-established restaurant in Savannah and we're offering our normal great benefits, but people would rather sit at home with their kids or play video games and earn $600 a week,” Holmes told the Savannah Standard. “We’re definitely having a hiring problem going back into full rotation of business.”

Valdosta Today reported that Employ Georgia, the state’s dedicated online employment resource, currently has more than 239,000 job openings posted with an average annual salary of $49,000.

As told to NBC, Savannah’s Moon River Brewing Co. has been hiring for all positions since May 2020, but because of a lack of applicants who become employees, they are forced to restrict operations.

“We've decreased our hours a little bit just based on what employees we have to work with on a day-to-day basis,” Holmes said in an interview. “We'll cut down to one bar and bartender and close the other bar or we'll limit the kitchen menu.”

Other Georgia industries with the steepest decline in applicants include health care, retail trade, accommodation, transportation, warehouse and manufacturing, which accounts for the highest number of job postings on Employ Georgia.