BRADENTON, Fla. — The number of open jobs soared to a record 11.5 million in March, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
It's the highest number the federal government has seen since tracking began 21 years ago.
Many of those jobs are in the Tampa Bay area – including at local governments and at our local schools. Several school districts have struggled over the past several months to fill vacancies, even as they have increased their recruitment efforts.
The School District of Manatee County, for instance, has more than 200 job openings despite having a weekly walk-in program for interviews and a monthly job fair.
"Currently, we are looking for a 41 bus drivers, 42 bus attendants, 27 custodians and over 90 food service workers," said Regina Thoma, the district's director of food and nutrition services.
The shortage of support staff has put a strain on operations within the transportation department and food and nutrition services department. Thoma said current staff members are filling in the gap and taking on multiple shifts.
Since the beginning of the academic year, the district has pushed recruitment efforts, including hiring qualified individuals on the spot.
"I was here actually just to sign papers for the final steps. I start the 16th of this month, and I'm excited to start," said Salena Guadalupe, of Palmetto, at the district support center on Tuesday.
Guadalupe lost her job at a convenience store right before Christmas and just got hired for a new one as a custodian at a middle school. She said her new pay was several dollars more than she was earning before.
"This job is going to help me more, and it is going to help me help my mom pay the bills, help my family out a little bit, at least what I can contribute, and also get my baby some things that he needs, so it is a big relief," she said.
The district said it is facing competition from other industries and private businesses – but hopes various incentives including pay, benefits and scheduling will help attract new hires.
"Some of our positions do not require nights and weekends so we have lots of other benefits that maybe local businesses are not able to offer. For some of them it may be a second career or some of them may be parents that would like to be off on the days their children are off," Thoma said.
For one potential hire, being on the same schedule as her child was exactly the reason why she attended the monthly job fair at the district's support center.
"The cost of childcare does not always add up with the rest of your bills so if I can alleviate the childcare cost and be at home with my child and know that she's safe, you know, I'm good with that, like money doesn't really matter," said Melinda Evans, a job seeker who lives in Bradenton.
Manatee County school leaders hold walk-in interviews every Thursday. Meanwhile, Sarasota County also has almost 180 different openings. Interested job seekers can find all the available jobs and apply to any one of them on the district's website.