There has been a lot of talk about how the labor shortage — in Pennsylvania and around the country — is hitting different industries hard.
It’s changing the hours of shops and restaurants as business owners struggle to find the staff to keep the doors open. It’s creating a pinch for school districts in need of substitutes, bus drivers and cafeteria workers. It’s contributing to the empty shelves in stores and changing menus as supply lines break down without enough dock workers and truck drivers to get the jobs done.
You name a sector of the economy, and it is making it challenging to do business as usual.
But what happens when the business isn’t making money? What happens when it is keeping people safe?
In Vandergrift, there aren’t enough school crossing guards to go around. The borough is down to just four full-time and one part-time crossing guard.
“We’re in dire need of guards,” said Vandergrift police Chief Joseph Caporali, whose officers had been filling in for guards when they were sick now and then. With the low numbers now, the police are on that beat daily.
The municipality isn’t alone. From New Jersey and Ohio to Texas and Missouri, schools are reporting a desperate need for the people who help kids cross busy streets safely.
It isn’t surprising. The demographics of crossing guards are among those most depressed amid the coronavirus pandemic. The average age is 52 and more women than men do the job. Pennsylvania is second only to New York in the number hired at 8,000 in 2020.
It also isn’t the only safety-related job that is hard pressed to find workers. According to a recent PennLive story, PennDOT has only been able to fill 40% of its 695 temporary positions for snow plow drivers this season. Another 7% of the permanent worker positions are open.
Snow plow drivers are a more specialized position. They need commercial driver licenses, and they have to be willing to drive day or night because snow doesn’t care about schedules. The snow plows are just about to hit their big period of demand as winter weather is on the forecast for two days this week.
PennDOT is responding by planning for proactive strategies like salt brining roads before a storm, which might not always work, and calling on retired CDL operators to come back on the job. This is good thinking, and let’s hope it works and that more outside-the-box ideas are brought to the table.
Because if we think shelves are empty now with fewer truck drivers carrying goods from here to there, imagine how bad it could get with those same trucks driving on roads that aren’t salted or plowed as often as they could be.
— The Tribune-Review, Greensburg/ TNS
