A construction company in Buckner is down 20% from its regular manpower. A small marketing research firm in Louisville can attract only about a quarter of its employees back from furlough. And at Central Bank in Lexington, they’re still short on tellers, casting for talent inside a much smaller applicant pool than usual.
Kentucky companies, large and small, are struggling to hire employees as they seek to return to normalcy from the coronavirus pandemic. And they’re all largely citing the same reason: The weekly $300 federal unemployment checks, included in the American Rescue Plan, make it easier for people to stay home, rather than return to their shifts.
And now Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell is laying the labor shortage at the feet of the Democratic Party’s generous spending package.
