MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Most businesses are booming again. This time, the trouble is hiring people.
Local 24 News Reporter Brittani Moncrease hung out in Germantown Thursday speaking with city leaders and businesses who say they have a lot of jobs open.
The bounce back from the pandemic is real.
These days, most businesses in Germantown are on the hunt for employees.
“Right now, everyone is hiring basically. We have every sector from retail, restaurants, the hospitality sector, the service industry, office, medical office,” said Marie Lisco, Germantown Economic Development Manager.
Lisco has been working closely with business including the city itself to get folks hired.
“We’re still coming out of a rough time obviously. With the pandemic, we saw some of our highest unemployment last year, but it’s steadily come down. Now we’re under, in terms of Germantown, we’re under 3%,” said Lisco. “However, employers are still looking for employees.”
Heidi Hosick runs Team Autism Memphis. They are one of those businesses having trouble with hiring.
“With the pandemic, a lot of people stayed at home, both the kids, our patients, and the therapist. Now that we’re starting to come out of that, we’re seeing a big increase in the number of clients, which means we need to hire more,” said Hosick.
That need is immediate because pediatric therapists, in particular, are noticing a national trend.
“We’re starting to see a lot of children with delayed language,” said Lisco. “People have masks on. Kids aren’t seeing. We try not to talk as much when a mask is on... I personally think it’s because a lot of people have been home so much, so children haven’t been around a lot of other people and there’s been a lot of stress.”
To help businesses such as Team Autism Memphis, Germantown started a Back to Business Taskforce.
“We’ve got a URL, a dedicated page, Germantown-tn.gov/whoshiring. Anyone can go and see what businesses are hiring,” said Lisco.
“Any way to get the word out is great. I was excited to see the city had that and to be able to have another avenue to say, ‘Hey, we need help too,’" said Hosick.
By spreading the word, hopefully help is on the way.