According to recent data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are twice the number of job openings than workers.
Stacie Casillas is the owner of a professional house cleaning business in Morro Bay for the past eight years.
She is just one of many businesses dealing with staff shortages since the start of the pandemic.
“It's been very frustrating always posting ads to hire people, and people just not showing up setting up interviews, and people not showing up or people lasting a week and really wanting to work," said Casillas, owner of Professional House Cleaning Service.
Casillas said she usually has at least 10 employees to help run the business, but right now, she is down to just four.
“I have to turn away business, not being able to gather more business because we don’t have the people to staff it," said Casillas.
A restaurant in San Luis Obispo with the same issue.
“We do have an employee shortage. We are hiring consistently. Our turnover is gradually going up. People come to work for two or three weeks and then they find another job to do," said Aasim Sajjad, owner of Shalimar restaurant.
Sajjad said the lack of workers has forced him to change operating hours. Forcing him to close half an hour earlier. He said while business is booming there just isn’t enough help.
“We usually have 25 employees now we only have 17 or 18 so covering up the gap is pretty tough," said Sajjad.
Local businesses said they hope the decrease in workforce changes soon.
