The help wanted signs are everywhere, and employers are offering some generous incentives to recruit people to fill their open positions. Even then, some businesses are finding it difficult to find people. 

Powell Valley Healthcare has always struggled to find certified nurse assistants, said Cassie Tinsley, director of human resources for PVHC. She doesn’t have data to show how difficult the situation is, but it’s been a long time since the provider has had to offer incentives to recruit people.

To try and get more applicants, the health care organization has been offering a $5,000 bonus for a three-year commitment. However, PVHC consultants suggested that might be too long of a commitment, so they’ve been negotiating with prospective employees for shorter time periods for less money. 

“We’re not the only hospital that is offering sign-on bonuses for CNAs. We’re starting to compete with each other, to pull from the same workforce,” Tinsley said. 

There is also a lot of competition from the hospitality and food service industry, which is offering comparable wages and even sign-on bonuses. 

Aaron Davidson, owner of the Dairy Queen in Cody, said the business is offering a sign-on bonus to get people through the first week, which is the hardest. He also provides a $1 per hour bonus for summertime work, when Cody is facing the seasonal influx of tourists. 

“Those seem to be having some effect,” Davidson said of the incentives. 

Davidson purchased Dairy Queen last year and was prepared to open when the pandemic hit. 

“The previous owner always struggled to get enough people, but they were successful doing it. For the past year, we haven’t been successful at getting fully staffed,” Davidson said. 

The Park County government has not been immune, with the events department currently searching for people to help set up and run the Park County Fair.

From ticket sales to custodial work to garbage collection, “we are a bit short in just about every area,” County Events Coordinator Mike Garza said. The fairtime positions typically draw around 30 applicants, but Garza had only seven on Monday.

“We were hoping maybe as it got closer to fair the applications would start trickling a little bit more than they have,” he said, but that hasn’t happened.

The May jobs report showed a slight decrease in the unemployment rate, but some economists say that was not a good sign. As economies reopen after the COVID-19 shutdowns, the expectation is that people who aren’t working will re-enter the workforce and start looking for jobs. The number of people who were officially counted as unemployed and actively looking for work dropped by almost 500,000. Since many American workers were temporarily laid off, this suggests lots of able-bodied people are just not returning to the workforce. 

This is one of the reasons why so many states are ending federal unemployment benefits — Wyoming included — which provide further assistance on top of that offered by the state. The concern is that people are being disincentivized to work since they are making more money being unemployed. 

Wyoming ended its federal unemployment extension program this week, but there’s a number of other factors at play in Park County that may be contributing to the problem.

As Davidson pointed out, many hotels and restaurants in Cody rely on seasonal visa workers. Last year, these were completely unavailable due to COVID travel restrictions, and this year, the number of visas available is reduced.

“You take 50 people out of the mix in Cody in the fast-food scene, that’s pretty painful. You spread that out across three or four restaurants, it’s pretty painful,” Davidson said. 

At Powell Valley Healthcare, Tinsley points out that there are a lot of providers and long term care facilities in the Basin, and they all need CNAs. That means a lot of employers competing with each other for CNAs. 

There are also plenty of education opportunities for those who want to be CNAs. Northwest College has a program, Cody Regional Health offers one, and there are others around the region.  

Powell Valley Healthcare CEO Terry Odom said they struggle to fill more skilled positions as well. Medical laboratory specialists and respiratory therapists have been difficult to find in the past. Odom said it’s no more difficult for those positions now than it has been in the past.

Davidson said they increased their base wage at Dairy Queen for their new employees, while increasing wages for those who have been there a while. As difficult as it is recruiting for open positions, he’s hoping to keep the ones who stick around. 

(CJ Baker contributed reporting.)