Small business owners struggle as job seekers delight in current economy

The president announced Friday that 431,000 jobs were added in March and unemployment numbers are just above a 50-year low. While that is good news for job seekers, many businesses are struggling to keep their doors open, not because of COVID-19 but because of a lack of staff.

Many business owners have no choice but to use temporary hours, many times having to step in themselves to go from boss to worker, like Manali Patel, who wears many hats throughout the day.

She helps make the salads at a Tossgreen location in Downtown Jacksonville. She also helps take calls and run the cash register.

But her actual title:

“I’m the owner and president of the company,” Patel said.

Patel owns three Tossgreen locations, and all of them have temporary hours.

“We are getting busier than before. Like we are now getting to where we want to be, but you don’t have enough people to sell them,” Patel said.

President Joe Biden touted his administration’s jobs numbers Friday, saying the recovery has now created 7.9 million jobs.

“More jobs created over the first 14 months of any presidency in any term ever. And that is striking. But what’s even more striking is this, in March, the unemployment rate fell to 3.6%, down from 6.4% when I took office 15 months ago, the fastest unemployment (drop) ever recorded,” Biden said.

But Patel said her small business is competing with all the others for the same worker.

“So there’s always someone next door who’s going to offer more. So yeah it’s really hard for the small businesses,” Patel said.

And that means keeping up with pay.

Over the past year, the average paycheck has increased by 5.6%: one of the fastest increases since the early ’80s.

Another reason why there’s no better time than now if you’re looking for a job -- but not necessarily if you’re a business owner.