Hundreds of seasonal and year-round jobs are available in Huntsville, but they’re not being filled.
A lack of an available labour force has some business owners in the area stressed.
Manny Buttus owns a restaurant and says his help wanted sign has been in the window for four months. He says he has no choice but to close the doors two days a week to give existing staff a break.
“It is a lot of money that you lose in two days, but at the same time if I burn my staff out by mid-August and I have chef's that can't come into work, I lose way more money.”
The YMCA employment centre in town has over 100 job listings, both seasonal and year-round, from a wide variety of industries.
Retailers in the downtown say they have plenty of foot traffic through their doors, but with so few staff they are forced to work extra-long shifts.
Jocelyn Markle is a retailer and says she fills in the gap by working open until close most days.
Markle says a lack of affordable housing is one reason the jobs aren’t being filled.
According to town officials, more affordable housing is on the way with a number of projects in the works. However, most are still years away from being completed.
