Lack of workers in the workforce hitting Delmarva hard

DELMARVA – For college students just entering the workforce, business officials say the time is now to find a job and as people look for jobs in Salisbury, questions come up about how the current job market looks across Delmarva.

Higher education officials are hopeful looking at the current job market. 

“They are projecting that this year’s graduates are really likely to get jobs based on the economy.”

Higher education officials are hopeful looking at the current job market, but upcoming graduates may not be happy with the wages on the table.

Salisbury Chamber of Commerce President Bill Chambers says there are so many openings right now, they’re desperate to fill those jobs.

“Wages have been depressed for years and the pandemic kind of kick-started that whole wage increase trend.”

This means people are expecting more money for the hours they work, especially when looking at the healthcare industry.

“This is the first year in decades where we have had the same high number of organized labor strikes across the country, and health care is not immune to it.”

The 75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers on the picket line, make up just one sector of workers striking this year and while other fields may not be on strike, they are still in need of people to join the workforce.

“There are still sectors that are in need of employees like healthcare, hospitality industry, the service industry, but generally we are seeing job growth slowing and that is kind of consistent with where we are seeing inflation and the economy in general.”

Chambers says because of the slowed job growth, now is the time to get to work.

It’s a notion Salisbury University’s director of career services agrees with, saying there are a lot of opportunities right now for upcoming graduates.

“The number of participants both from employers and students who are actively engaging in on campus recruitment tells us that there are really high prospects for this area.”