Bar owner says bartenders opted for unemployment pay over work

HOUSTON - As Texas continues to reopen, unemployment rates remain in the double digits, yet some employers say they’re having a hard time filling their job openings.

A bar owner in Spring tells the story of his struggle to fill job openings since his business was allowed to reopen, begging the question: what sort of role do unemployment benefits have in keeping people unemployed?

“I put out an ad right away,” said Rodney Holder, owner of Spring Tavern.

As soon as Spring Tavern was allowed to reopen May 22, Hodler put out a hiring ad and got zero responses, despite a Texas unemployment rate of 12.8%.

“I did get a response from one of the customers that his son was a bartender at the airport and said good luck, ‘cause he’s making $1,000 a week on unemployment,” said Holder. “Why would he go back to work as a bartender? He’s making more now.”

He put out a second hiring ad to a bigger audience and got some bites.

“I had four interviews set up and ended up with only two showing up,” said Holder. “We ended up hiring the two that we interviewed because we needed people, and one of them ended up working two shifts and we never heard from them again. They never showed back up, so I’m assuming they probably realized the money that they’re making now is nothing compared to what they used to make. So they can make more on unemployment than work.”

The bar’s manager Carol Sehlke did decide to go back to work, forfeiting her unemployment check.

“It equaled out to $1,700 every two weeks,” said Sehlke of the government funding she received over the past two months.

She says she makes about the same amount now that she’s back to work as she was getting during unemployment. She said she’s someone who missed working during the 66 days Spring Tavern was closed.

“We’re like family here, so I missed the girls and I missed the customers,” said Sehlke.

The bar has tried to hire more people to help the business comply with new sanitation and capacity requirements, but hiring as Texas reopens has become a surprising challenge.

“Now that we’re back 50%, they’re making less money because less people are coming in,” said Sehlke.

Texas Congressman Dan Crenshaw has introduced a bill to help incentivize the return to work. With the Jump-Start the American Economy Act, Americans would still get an unemployment check of $600 per week for up to an additional six weeks after returning to work. A similar bill has been introduced in the Senate.

As for Spring Tavern, Holder says he lost more than $60 thousand during the economic shutdown. He had to dip into his retirement savings to keep the business afloat and has since put the bar up for sale--looking to leave the business.