HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — The U.S. jobs report released Friday shows unemployment is at its lowest level since 1960. Employers added half a million jobs last month.
While those headlines are great to hear, we're still dealing with record inflation and rising interest rates.
"We’ve been through recessions and tight labor markets. We’ve never been through a tight labor market like this. Never," Mark Stoker, founder of Care Team, said.
In his 50-plus years working in the home healthcare industry, Mark stoker said hiring is the biggest challenge he’s ever encountered.
"It’s the only thing that keeps me up at night," Stoker explained.
After the pandemic, he said people left the industry. The gaps grow wider with each day.
"I would say that 70% of our employees right now are working overtime. Anywhere from 10-30 hours a week overtime," Stoker added.
Stoker worked in distress on the day the U.S. jobs report for January shows employers added 517,000 jobs, despite record inflation and high-interest rates.
"I think all we're seeing is some jobs market numbers that look pretty good on paper but don't really tell the full story of what's going on in the economy more broadly," Victor Claar, Associate Professor of Economics, said.
To get the full story, we went straight to Claar. He said behind those numbers are areas of concern which are evidenced by 'Now Hiring' signs posted throughout the Tampa Bay area.
“We have not seen a return, in terms of labor force participation, to the levels that we saw before the pandemic and when people aren't working or looking, they're not considered unemployed,” Claar added.
The unemployment rate, which continues to trend downward from 3.5% to 3.4%, dipped to the lowest in the U.S. since 1969, according to the Labor Department.
“A tight labor market, while it means a lower unemployment rate, it also means that wages tend to be higher because hiring is a challenge," Claar explained.
It’s why Stoker said he’s tripled recruitment advertisement budgets and even gave 15-30% raises just to retain workers.
"I could easily hire 100 people. Get them all onboarded and put them to work within the next 30-45 days," Stoker added.
He told ABC Action News there seems to be a big appetite for remote work, which is something he can’t offer but is trying to combat.
“Our patients come first before the bottom line. So, we're suffering through this," Stoker said.
