Baldwin County Businesses Struggle to Hire

NBC 15 reports that, as vacation crowds begin to gather, businesses across Baldwin County are hiring, but they say they can’t find people who want a job. Some are blaming the federal government in the form of stimulus checks or heightened unemployment benefits. Extended unemployment benefits, childcare issues, the fear of COVID-19, and the uncertainty of the J-1 Visa program, which is set to expire, are also mentioned as difficulties for employers who have historically depended on foreign students. One more uncertainty is today’s lifting of the mask mandate in Gov. Kay Ivey’s Safer Apart Order and how that may affect the number of people who will come to the local beaches.