Shortage of Bus Drivers Is Just the Beginning, RI’s Job Market Is a Mess
Monday, October 03, 2022
The implications of the new order of the state of Rhode Island’s workforce is having a bigger impact than if your entree comes out cold.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTRhode Island's restaurants are down 3,000 workers. The state's hospitals combined have thousands of vacancies and are losing tens of millions a quarter due in part to overtime costs. Overall, the state’s workforce is 8% smaller than it was before the pandemic.
Rhode Island has some big plans for the future. It has set aside more than half a billion dollars to build affordable housing and reinvent the energy infrastructure.
But, Rhode Island can’t even staff public transportation. Hard to reverse the course of climate change when you are forcing more people to abandon public transportation and get back in cars to get to work, school, or the hospital.
We don't have enough workers, many don't want to do certain jobs, and achieving the goals of improving housing, healthcare, and climate change simply won't be possible without a major change to the availability of workers.
Bus Driver Shortage Is Just One Example
The Rhode Island Public Transportation Authority (RIPTA) announced this week the slashing of major bus routes across the state due to the lack of staffing.
More than 20 routes have been impacted.
Joe Cole, A.T.U. Vice President 618/618A, told GoLocal, "Last weekend, Friday through Sunday, there were 680 trips lost. Did not run. RIPTA’s number of passengers per trip is an estimated of 9 [impacted]. That means roughly 6,120 passengers were left without transportation.
"These lost trips have to be registered with F. T. A. (Federal Transit Administration). The reduction of service should of went to public meetings for the public to be informed," Cole added.
About 30 drivers are needed just to restore the canceled service. Hundreds of drivers will be needed to expand and improve public transportation. Without a new strategy it is difficult to make significant impacts on climate change.
"More than 40% of California’s greenhouse gas emissions are spewed from the tailpipes of heavy-duty trucks and millions of passenger cars, with the rest coming from vehicles such as trains and planes," reports the LAist.
Under the existing public transportation, there is not enough service for most people regardless of the benefits. "A single person who switches from a 20-mile commuting alone by car to existing public transportation, can reduce their annual CO2 emissions by 20 pounds per day, or more than 48,000 pounds in a year. That is equal to 10% reduction in all greenhouse gases produced by a typical two-adult, two-car household," according to KCATA.
Not Alone, But We Live in Rhode Island
Rhode Island is not alone in facing labor challenges.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston states in a new study, “Small businesses are facing the lingering impacts of COVID-19 with fewer workers and bigger problems finding applicants and retaining employees. That’s according to data collected from nearly 8,000 firms during the Federal Reserve’s annual Small Business Credit Survey. The information was analyzed for a report released last month on hiring and worker retention.
Among the report’s findings:
43% of small employer firms had fewer employees at the time of the survey than they did before the pandemic began.
44% of firms in the most recent survey said that hiring was “very difficult,” compared to 27% in 2018.
71% of firms said it had been very or somewhat difficult to retain workers in the prior 12 months.
78% of firms that reported hiring was difficult cited a shortage of applicants as a factor in those difficulties, far more than the 40% who cited competition from other employers.
Rhode Island Numbers Continue to Be Conflicting
Rhode Island has record low unemployment and tens of thousands of available jobs.
In July, when the workforce was at 89.5% recovered, the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council flagged the inconsistency of the recovery.
“While there are now 3,000 more employed Rhode Islanders than there were before the pandemic, we still have 9,300 fewer Rhode Island-based jobs and have recovered jobs lost during the pandemic more slowly than the U.S.,” said RIPEC President and CEO Michael DiBiase.
“Despite positive trends in the jobs data, the state’s recovery from the pandemic continues to be uneven,” he added.
Small businesses are facing the lingering impacts of COVID-19 with fewer workers and bigger problems finding applicants and retaining employees.
According to the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training, "The Real Estate, Rental & Leasing (43%) and Educational Services (17%) sectors have recovered less than half the jobs lost during the shutdown, while the Financial Activities and Management of Companies sectors have yet to recover any of the jobs lost during the pandemic shutdown."
According to modeling by the independent financial research firm Ned Davis Research (NDR), there is currently a 98.1% chance of a global recession.
The only other times that NDR's recession model was this high were in 2020 [COVID] and during The Great Recession.
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