ATLANTA – The Georgia Chamber of Commerce and several other state associations are calling on people to get back to work in what they believe is a growing labor crisis across the state.
The chamber released a comment on Monday highlighting several ways to get people back to work and help the Georgian economy grow even faster than it already is.
“As we continue to recover from this pandemic-induced recession, we hear from a growing chorus of small business owners, farm leaders, managers in retail, manufacturing and almost all industrial sectors across the country concerned about the lack of available labor.” said the chamber. “Because they cannot find a workforce, companies are turning down orders, raising prices, and some are even considering closing permanently. Many restaurants only offer drive-through and pick-up services, not because of COVID, but because they cannot find enough employees to support the entire operation. “
The chamber said job creation did its part, but now the state and corporations need to figure out how to get people back to work.
“Over 231,000 Georgians are unemployed, but in the past 90 days Georgian companies have reported at least 406,000 vacancies. Connecting these men and women with employers and returning to work is the first step, ”the chamber said. “Compared to previous years, the current number of job advertisements has almost doubled, which proves that our conditions are unprecedented and require creative solutions.”
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The Chamber then made these suggestions to get people back to work:
1. Suspend additional federal unemployment benefits and directly available funds for a nationwide bonus program for signing job vacancies or other reintegration initiative that helps match jobs with job seekers. This will create incentives for Georgians to return to work.
2. Encourage unemployed Georgians to actively seek employment while receiving benefits.
3. Divert federal funds to support our colleges and universities with rapid retraining and certification programs that qualify our workforce for jobs in the New Economy. Of course, we should allow these Georgians to continue receiving unemployment benefits while they retrain on a ramp-down schedule.
4. Eliminate the outdated Federal Self Certification Declaration Checklist for Unemployment Insurance and return to a robust qualification process.
5. Use of existing federal funds to improve the complaints procedure and to cover the need for childcare allowance. This will clear the backlog in our Department of Labor, so more workers can leave the system and find meaningful work to support their families. In the long term, Georgia needs to make aggressively coordinated efforts to improve the talent pipeline, such as:
6. Build on Governor Kemp’s on-demand scholarship momentum to help more low-income first generation students achieve careers.
7. Develop a federal bipartisan solution to our existing H-1B, H-2A and H-2B worker visa programs, which ensure Georgian companies and agricultural producers have the talent they need to meet growing demand.
8. Support the work of the Georgia House of Representatives Maximizing Global Talent Study Committee, which will examine current regulatory pressures and opportunities for upward mobility and prosperity.
9. Finally, prepare our students for competition in the new economy by enhancing and coordinating our talent pipeline through a review of the Georgian education system, which focuses on entrepreneurship education, continuing education, lifelong learning, STEM and 21st century skills development. Century concentrated.
“The national business community is ready and willing to work with government leaders, educators, and every man and woman who wants to work. Undoubtedly, this will require one of the greatest concerted efforts in our country’s history to overcome our setbacks while working together to plan a more resilient future, ”said the Chamber. “Let’s get to work, Georgia.”
Cox media group
