Santa Barbara County businesses looking to solve Central Coast labor shortage

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — Help wanted signs are popping up across California’s Central Coast. As new COVID-19 cases continue to decline, more businesses reopen to greater capacities and many businesses are struggling to hire to keep up with the growing demand.

The Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce hosted a roundtable to address the hiring problems and attract more workers back to the Central Coast.

Josh Williams was the keynote speaker for roundtable. He said Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation lost 50% of their jobs during the pandemic. And added about those losses, “You can’t lay off employees and expect them to come back.” 

Williams added that there will be a big rush for the Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation industry in the next two years and highlighted the possibility of using unused office space for residential space.

The SBSC Chamber has added a now hiring page to their website. You can find it here.