Russia-Ukraine War Complicating Jersey Shore Businesses' Summer Hiring Season
OCEAN CITY, N.J. (CBS) -- Jersey Shore businesses are crunching the numbers to see if they will have enough summer workers to stay open all season. The war in Ukraine is throwing a wrench into the calculations.
Jersey Shore towns are facing a worker shortage.
As summer slowly approaches, businesses and amusement parks are scrambling to fill seasonal positions.
Brian Hartley from Playland's Castaway Cove in Ocean City says hiring has been a struggle.
"We are trying to compete with everybody, everyone's looking for the same workers, whether it's local or the J-1 Visa kids," Hartley said.
The J-1 Visa is a four-month program providing work and travel for college students abroad. Now, the Russia-Ukraine conflict has paused the program for many.
"We didn't have any kids coming from Ukraine who were scheduled to come over," Hartley said. "We had a few Russian kids that were in our portal, but it sounds like they will not be able to come for obvious reasons."
Hartley says they are waiting to see if other students from Europe will be able to make it.
"A lot of the other kids from countries like Romania, Croatia, Turkey, Bulgaria, they're all kind of still in limbo," Hartley said. "A lot of those kids will go for their Visa interviews next month so we will have a little clarity then. But there's just a lot of uncertainty in their area of Europe that no one knows what's going to happen."
Over in Wildwood, Morey's Piers says it too is on a hiring spree as business gears up for the crowds.
Managers are looking for lifeguards, ride and game operators, bartenders and servers to name a few.
Both Morey's Piers and Playland's Castaway Cove are increasing their hourly wages to help attract workers.
"Whether you're a full-time business year-round or just seasonal, everyone's struggling to find employees these days," Hartley said.
Hartley is asking local kids to step up and apply for the summer jobs and if they are short come summer, they said they will figure it out on the fly.