After failing to find enough lifeguards to hire for the summer, the county was forced to keep the Ocean County Park swimming lake in Lakewood closed for the entire season.

This was another case of what plagues the private sector, from bakeries and restaurants to summer camps, also slamming the public sector.

Summer worker shortages are a problem on the Jersey Shore, with several cities struggling to attract candidates for lifeguard, Class II special law enforcement and attendant positions. the beach – all essential to accommodate the crowds from the coast.

“It’s very similar to companies that can’t recruit employees,” said Virginia Haines, Ocean County commissioner. “I know all over Ocean County that companies have come to our meetings to talk about nobody responding to ads, so this seems to be a problem in every job market.”

The starting salary for such jobs in New Jersey is typically around $ 15 an hour, based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and a review of online job listings.

This likely puts some government employers at a disadvantage, in a job market where some private employers offer higher wages for summer help, as well as $ 500 bonuses to new hires and those whose referrals lead to new ones. hires.

Following:NJ employers present these ideas for tackling the labor shortage: “August is our busiest month”

The limited staff of Ocean County lifeguards will be stationed at the county’s other swimming lake, located at A. Paul King Park in Manahawkin.

The county has seen a drop in the number of lifeguard candidates since 2019, but this is the first year they have had to close an entire lake.

“It happens – it could be the salary, it could be maybe they’d rather be lifeguards on the ocean,” Haines said. “I don’t know the real reason.”

Local business owners who came to the Commissioners’ meetings to talk about their staffing challenges suggested it was due to Federal Unemployment Compensation and the Unemployment Pandemic, which gives an additional $ 300 per week to workers. people receiving unemployment benefits.

“It could be the extra money they give,” Haines said. “That’s how some of the business people who came before us felt. Instead of making people go out and find jobs, they give them more money and I don’t know why.

Tom Gill, vice president of the United States Lifesaving Association, said lifeguard shortages happen all the time for a variety of reasons, including low wages and the fact that it is usually a job for a group. target age.

“You get two, three, four years from someone and then you’re constantly filling positions in the same age group,” said Gill.

Gill also mentioned that many foreigners with J-1 visas often hold lifeguard positions, but many were unable to come to the United States this summer due to travel restrictions.

Gill said there were shortages of lifeguards in several parts of the country, but it wasn’t something that affected all beaches.

“I wouldn’t call it a regional problem. I would call it a locality or agency issue, “he said.” What we’ve seen is that the beaches that usually have more staff issues for whatever reason, those staff issues are even more of a concern this year than others, and those who are strong year after year don’t seem to have much of a problem.

A new report has downplayed the impact of ending the additional $ 300 unemployment benefit.

Economists at Morgan Stanley, comparing states that gave up the enhanced benefit to those that maintained it, said there was “only mixed evidence” that the end of the weekly benefits “made the shift move. ‘labor supply,’ Forbes reported.

The state’s unemployment rate stands at 7.3%.

Labor market watchers say many workers have also used the pandemic to reassess part-time work, or to maintain so many of those gigs.

Employers therefore have their work cut out for them.

Angelica Cortinas – a retiree who works as a beach attendant at Seaside Heights every summer – said her team has been understaffed all season.

Beach attendants at Seaside Heights are responsible for selling beach badges and verifying badges when guests enter the beach.

“It’s a bit of a challenge, but I love the job, so you do the best you can with what you have,” Cortinas said.

Cortinas, who said she enjoyed spending summers working at the beach as a teenager, isn’t sure why there has been a shortage of applicants this year.

“I’ll be honest. I don’t know,” she said. “I mean, did we miss any teenagers or something? Because it’s such a great job for the kids to do. summer, so I don’t know what the kids are doing right now. ”

Following:Monmouth County businesses turn to workers with criminal histories to fill labor shortage

In Lavallette, the borough was unable to find a sufficient number of special Class II police officers, who patrol the beaches and the promenade during the summer months.

There are usually 15 Class II officers in Lavallette each summer, but this year, the borough was only able to hire four.

“We should have at least 10 more, but we’re going to have to overload the officers we have so all the beaches can stay open,” LaCicero said.

The mayor said he couldn’t be sure what caused the shortage of candidates this year.

“We just don’t get a lot of applicants,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s because of the anti-police movements or if it’s something else.

Belmar, which normally has 35 Class II officers during the summer months, has only 15 this season.

This is due to the closure of police training academies during most of the pandemic, Mayor Mark Walsifer said.

“It’s been a struggle for our Chief of Police Tina Scott, but she does a great job with the officers she has,” Walsifer said.

Long Beach Township also saw a decrease in Class II police requests this summer. The city hired seven this year, while most summers it hires 10.

“We are not that bad, but with the current circumstances and environment we are not getting enough requests, which I think is pretty much true everywhere,” said Mayor Joseph Mancini.

The mayor believes the lack of nominations this year is due to a general negative view of police across the country. He said these temporary positions are typically filled by students who are considering a career in law enforcement, and he estimates that fewer students pursue law enforcement each year.

“When they arrest someone, everyone has their iPhone in their mouths,” he said. “For what we pay, it’s hard summer work and it gets harder and harder every year. “

The lack of special police officers will not affect the city’s ability to keep its beaches fully open.

“We don’t have a boardwalk, so the only problem we really have here is that people aren’t willing to pay for a beach badge,” Mancini said.

Nicolas Fernandes is the late morning journalist. A lifelong New Jersey resident, he previously worked as a news editor and sports reporter. Contact him at 732-540-4401 or [email protected]