Worker shortages could stall recovery
San Bernadino County slowly reopens, California is on the brink of drought, and a feature on Giant Rock misses the point.
Hello from California’s high desert.
I’ve noticed quite a few businesses with “help wanted” signs out lately, but when Joshua Tree Saloon announced it was suspending take out services due to its staffing shortage, I started thinking about what the next few months hold for our community now that things are settling into a new normal.
In all, San Bernadino County currently has 44% more open jobs compared to open jobs before the pandemic hit, according to job posting website Indeed.com. That’s higher than the statewide average of 12% increase in new jobs since February 2020.
San Bernadino and Riverside Counties are both high hospitality metro areas, according to Indeed, so the recovery could be a sign that businesses hardest hit by early closures during the pandemic are starting to get their feet back under them.
But according to AnnElizabeth Konkel, an economist at Indeed, small and medium businesses are still struggling to attract new employees, as the owners of Joshua Tree Saloon can attest. Improved unemployment benefits combined with lingering safety concerns about COVID-19 have drastically reduced the number of people actively looking for hospitality sector jobs, Konkel said.
“I would encourage business owners to offer flexibility to workers and potential hires, if possible. The public health situation remains fluid and while things are looking positive, we're still not back to normal,” Konkel said. “Some workers still may need increased flexibility, depending on their specific situation.”
Our community has already been financially hard hit by the pandemic in so many ways. As things start to reopen and tourists make their way back out to our area, I would ask all of you to show kindness and understanding to the people working at these businesses as much as possible.
“COVID-19 is what started this mess and unfortunately, labor markets both at the national and local level are intricately tied to the public health situation,” Konkel said. “Another round of COVID cases will likely hurt hiring, whether it's a formal lockdown or not. The general public's expectation of what is safe to do plays a key role in labor market activity.”
We have already proven how resilient our little corner of the world can be. Let’s give it one better and be the example for communities everywhere for how to emerge from this last, long year stronger and better than before.
Now on to this week’s news:
San Bernadino County entered the Orange Tier last week, and the county has started offering rent payment assistance to residents most affected by closures.
San Bernadino County entered the Orange Tier last Wednesday after maintaining an infection rate below 6 per 1,000 for at least two weeks, according to the San Bernadino Sun.
In Orange Tier, San Bernadino County bars that don’t serve food can open outdoors, bowling alleys can open at 25% capacity, breweries and wineries can open indoors with modifications, and other businesses can increase their capacity.
The County also announced that it allocated more than $46.8 million to provide rent assistance to residents that had been affected by business closures during the pandemic.
The cans can be used for up to 12 months of overdue rent and/or potential rent payments, as well as utilities.
To check if you or someone in your household qualifies, check here. Applications opened Monday and will be approved on a rolling basis.
California is on the edge of a disastrous wildfire season after a record-setting dry winter. Most of eastern San Bernandino County is in the most severe drought level.
Parts of San Bernadino County were under a fire weather watch Tuesday, one of the earliest such warnings in recent years, due to high winds and record dry weather in the area.
This winter was the third driest on record for the state, setting us up for yet another destructive wildfire season that could begin as early as this summer.
Far eastern San Bernadino, Inyo, and Riverside Counties are in “Exceptional Drought,” the most severe drought category.
“It’s extraordinary that there’s any fire risk in a lot of California right now, and yet here we are,” said UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain told the San Francisco Chronicle. “Normally, this would be the least flammable time of year throughout most of California.”
The Department of Water Resources cautioned on Tuesday that parts of the state could face water shortages or cutbacks starting this summer.
An editor for SF Gate took his family out to Giant Rock and gave readers some history of what might be the world’s largest freestanding boulder.
He spoke to a local geologist, who claimed Giant Rock broke off a nearby mountain during an earthquake of similar size to the 1992 Landers quake back before earthquake records were kept.
Speaking of earthquakes, did you feel last week’s 3.0 out near Yucca Valley? Our dogs slept through it entirely, even though the house made a definite creaking sound!
However, the editor also took a lot of photos of the graffiti near Giant Rock, which has been an ongoing issue in the area that the BLM and other groups are trying desperately to clean up.
If you do choose to go out to Giant Rock and see the climbing area for yourself, please practice Leave No Trace principles and pack out any trash you bring in. I have started bringing gloves and trash bags with me on visits like this which, although they don’t help much with graffiti, it’s the least I can do to pick up trash others have left behind at these popular areas.
Pupdate of the week: Alice is getting the hang of her obedience training! She’s mastered sit, stay, down, paw, and a few other commands. Lucky for her, Oliver already considers himself a pro, so she just has to watch him and repeat.
Trail tip of the week: It is hot, so any trail you take this week will likely include an appearance from our lizard and snake friends. Make sure to always watch where you are stepping, and give the critters plenty of space. If you hear a rattle, stop and assess the situation before moving forward. If you can’t see the snake, it is usually safest to turn around and head back how you came in to avoid sneaking up on it.
Book of the week: If you haven’t yet read The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett, I cannot recommend it enough! It follows the lives of twin sisters who take very different paths in life, only to meet back up in their fictional hometown years later. HBO just acquired the rights to the story for an upcoming limited series, and I cannot wait to see what they do with it!
Movie of the week: The Academy Awards air on Sunday, so this week I encourage you to take a look through some of the potential award winners. Since theaters have been closed most of this year, the big-ticket movies are almost entirely on streaming services like Amazon Prime or Hulu. I particularly enjoyed The Trial of the Chicago 7 on Netflix and Palm Springs on Hulu (the featured home in the movie is in Yucca Valley!).
Small business spotlight
Since we are firmly back in the Orange Tier, might I suggest checking out Joshua Tree Brewery this weekend? They are relatively new in town but have been absolutely killing it with takeout services during the lockdown and I, for one, am looking forward to finally enjoying a fresh pint outside anywhere that is not my own backyard.
Joshua Tree Brewery is open Friday evenings and Saturday from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. It’s located at 6393 Sunset Road in Joshua Tree.
That’s it for this week! As always, please let me know what you’d like to read in future editions of this newsletter. Hope you are all staying safe and sane out there, and make sure to get outside this weekend!
- Megan
So happy I found this. It’s nice to get a high level view as to what’s happening in the high desert. Thank you & Keep up the good work Megan! :)