A We're Hiring sign at a Publix supermarket in Richmond, Va., Wednesday, June 2, 2021. The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose last week, Thursday, June 17, for the first time since April despite widespread evidence that the economy and the job market are rebounding steadily from the pandemic recession.(AP Photo/Steve Helber)

NASHUA – On June 15, following the release of the May 2021 jobs report by New Hampshire Employment Security, which shows New Hampshire’s unemployment rate has dropped below the pre-pandemic unemployment rate of 2.7 percent in March of 2020, to 2.5 percent currently, Governor Chris Sununu said New Hampshire’s economy is “roaring back to life.”

Touting that New Hampshire is enjoying one of the lowest employment rates in the history of the Granite State, Sununu went on to say, “Such low unemployment rates are no accident, but are the result of a continued effort to provide businesses with the flexibility needed to grow, while providing individuals with the incentives and resources needed to return to work. New Hampshire’s economy is well-positioned to make further economic gains throughout the year that will serve to benefit communities and families across the Granite State.”

According to the BLS for May 2021, the national unemployment rate declined by .03 percentage points to 5.8 percent.

Meanwhile, Nashua’s unemployment rate was 3.2 percent in April, which was down from 3.8 percent in March. That reflected significant improvement from April 2020, when the unemployment rate stood at 17.9 percent.

In a continued effort to provide Granite Staters with the tools to re-enter the workforce, New Hampshire Employment Security has already held 21 virtual job fairs that have connected 8,702 job-seekers with 862 employers.

Last month, data provided by the BLS showed New Hampshire as tied with the states of Nebraska, South Dakota, and Utah for the lowest unemployment rate in the nation at 2.8 percent.

According to the BLS, initial weekly unemployment claims in late May dropped to the lowest level since March 14, 2020, the day after it was announced that the country was heading for a national shutdown due to the coronavirus. There were 385,000 seasonally adjusted initial claims, which was a decrease of 20,000 from the previous week.

That also marked the fifth consecutive week of declining numbers.

There are plenty of jobs available, with a record 8.1 million jobs opening across the country at the end of March. This was most evident in the sectors for food service and accommodation.

Last month, the New Hampshire Division of Travel and Tourism Development projected 3.45 million visitors to the Granite State this summer, with spending reaching $1.8 billion, helping drive an industry rebound to near 2019 levels.

Due in large part to a pent-up demand for travel, high vaccination rates, a vibrant economy and exceptional tourism assets, New Hampshire is poised to experience one of its busiest seasons in recent years.

According to Taylor Caswell, commissioner, New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs, if nothing else, the past year has demonstrated the resiliency of the state’s tourism industry and its importance. Despite all the global challenges posed by the pandemic, visitation to New Hampshire was down only 14.9% last summer.

“Tourism is a critical part of New Hampshire’s economy,” said Commissioner Caswell. “It creates jobs, generates income and helps attract new residents to New Hampshire as a great place to live and work. Everyone in the industry should be proud of the job they’ve done to not only help the tourism industry survive, but also thrive.”

Whether tourism will spark a spike in new jobs, roughly 15.4 million people across the country were receiving some form of unemployment aid for the week ending May 15 — a decrease of 366,000 from the previous week. Around 30.7 million weekly claims were filed for the same week in 2020.

One of the largest concerns for job prospects is that there are many hospitality jobs and few takers.

Labor is the biggest single cost for hospitality institutions, yet many hotel and tourism industry employers are facing a second squeeze because of the skills gap – there is a shortage of qualified employees.

While N.H. is expecting a spike in tourism, there are still few qualified hospitality workers throughout the state, or those workers are disinterested in working in that industry.

Experts say the biggest issue is wages, where employees are in roles that traditionally pay low or have tipped wages, such as the restaurant segment. Employees tend to leave those jobs due to low pay.

Another is technology – hotel employees are increasingly expected to use technology and some workers (including older workers and those who have less familiarity with technology due to income barriers) are thrust out.

The other issue is that older employees who have decades’ worth of experience in hospitality, are also near their retirement age.

At the other end of the spectrum is the state’s problem in retaining the youth who graduate from colleges in the Granite State and then seek jobs elsewhere.

Of that, Caswell has said, “I don’t think it’s solely how we are going to keep all these kids in New Hampshire. Some will stay, but a lot of us went away for a while and got educated, had life experiences, worked in different jobs, maybe started a family and then came home. I want those people back here.”

So as seasonal businesses begin to ramp up for the summer tourist season, the shortage of workers continues.

U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH) is urging the Biden administration to make it easier for seasonal businesses to hire immigrant workers on temporary visas.

In May, Pappas praised the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services rule raising the annual cap on seasonal businesses.

“I am calling on the Biden administration, to streamline and simplify the application process to reduce further delays in hiring, to examine the lottery system used to allocate the visas, and to reinstate the returning worker exemption,” Pappas said.

Meanwhile, average hourly earnings in New Hampshire are up more than $2 an hour, coming to an increase of $87 a week.That’s too little, to a lot of people.

Still, thousands who left the workforce in New Hampshire when the pandemic hit are staying home, disinterested or disillusioned about going back to work.

There are more than 28,000 fewer people in New Hampshire’s workforce than there were a year ago. And yet thousands of jobs are still available.

“If you looked at the job openings line, you wouldn’t detect that there was a pandemic,” N.H. Employment Security Economist Annette Nielsen said in an interview. “My analysis is that it’s definitely the labor force participation rate. It’s down by a couple of points and that’s the big reason for the labor shortage.”

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