UNEMPLOYMENT STABILIZING Shifts in the industry San Marcos businesses have felt the pinch of inflation with rising costs and a 15K 12K 9K
Unemployment in Hays County was steadily declining before spiking to an all- time high at the onset of the pandemic. Unemployment has calmed and shows signs of declining but not to prepandemic levels with rates that were higher in February 2023 than February 2022.
Unemployment rose to 13,671 in April 2020 due to the onset of COVID-19.
competitive market with some of the biggest industries falling behind in wages. Local organizations such as Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area and Austin Community College are working to help individuals find job opportunities with higher wages and more growth.
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SOURCES: U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS RURAL CAPITAL AREA, COSTAR GROUP, AUSTIN COMMUNITY COLLEGE/ COMMUNITY IMPACT
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an active restaurant consultant. “In San Marcos, we do have to rec- ognize that even the people that we love the most, we might get them for three years, right?,” Scott said. “Even some of our management are on bor- rowed time.” Samantha Strahan and Sara Chavez took over ownership of The Porch and The Taproom in Novem- ber. They said there is a fair bit of turnover on the square, but for them, there isn’t too much. “I would say we either have people that make it a month [in the indus- try] or have been with us since we took over,” Chavez said. Strahan added some staff mem- bers have been with the company long before they purchased it. Despite fairly low turnover and a
cooling off of unemployment, the service industry is still struggling to keep up with demand as positions
on $2.13 an hour?’” Strahan said. In Texas, the minimum wage is $7.25, but tipped employees can be paid as low as $2.13 an hour. In addition to trying to pay fair, liv- able and competitive wages, business owners’ bottom lines are also at risk as inflation presents more challenges. Grappling with inflation The cost of goods and services has increased substantially across the country, hitting the wallets of busi- ness owners and everyday residents, Scott said. The consumer price index tracks inflation through the changes of prices paid for goods and services, such as food and household goods. In a 12-month time frame from February 2022-23, the CPI in Texas increased by 6.18%. The owners of Grins, Industry, The Porch and The Taproom said the costs of goods they buy for their estab- lishments have at least doubled, but they cannot double the prices of their own items to make up for it—and that affects their overall business.
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“For six months, I was closed on Mondays because I didn’t have enough staff, and for three months out of that, I was closed Monday and Tuesday because I didn’t have enough management,” Sutphen said. About 30% of Grins’ back-of-house employees and almost 80% of front- of-house employees are college students, but Sutphen said he has experienced little turnover. Even though San Marcos is largely a college town, it is not necessarily indicative of high turnover. There is, however, an acknowledgment that staff may not be around for the long haul, said restaurant and busi- ness owners such as Harlan Scott, co-owner of Industry, Valentino’s and
remain vacant. Wages wavering
Simultaneously, the food service and retail industries are two of the three largest workforce sectors in Hays County but also have some of the highest numbers of job openings. As of April 23, there were nearly 7,000 job openings in Hays County. Food service and retail jobs make up 16% of all those job openings. While that high number of job openings may make it hard for busi- nesses to remain competitive, food service industry workers earn the lowest wages among all occupations in Hays County. They make around $24,000 on average annually com- pared to the county’s average annual wage of $50,266, according to data from Workforce Solutions Rural Cap- ital Area. “There’s that pervasive [thought that] ‘nobody wants to work any- more,’ but [the reality] is, ‘can you live
“We’re seeing lunch business is down 75%; weeknights are down 30%; and people are spending less when they come in; all the while, I’m paying my staff and management more than I could have ever imagined.” HARLAN SCOTT, CO-OWNER OF INDUSTRY AND VALENTINO’S
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