ATLANTA — Businesses are struggling to attract and keep workers as 4.3 million Americans quit their jobs in the month of August alone, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
With all these resignations, businesses can’t keep up and unemployment numbers show that.
Hotel and restaurant businesses saw more people quit than any other industry.
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Bud Capozzi, who owns Capozzi’s New York Pizza in East Cobb, says he has been lucky that business has been solid, but his biggest problem is finding employees.
“We don’t have any staff. It seems like every business in America is just looking for employees,” Capozzi told Channel 2′s Michael Seiden.
Because of the lack of workers, his business is focused on take-out, not allowing hungry customers to eat inside his restaurant with the neighborhood atmosphere that it’s known for.
“It’s nice to have people in the store and socialize and that’s the whole thing I liked about it,” he said.
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In the 20 years the government has been keeping track, there has never been a single month where more people voluntarily left their jobs than August 2021.
Channel 2 consumer advisor Clark Howard said this issue was already brewing before the pandemic, which made it worse.
“We have a lot of people who have not returned to the labor force because of effects of COVID. We have a lot of women who have childcare issues,” Howard explained. “A lot of people reassessed their lives and decided they didn’t want to work for someone else they wanted to go work for themselves.”
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New unemployment numbers from the Department of Labor are expected to be released Thursday.
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