With the strong and nearly uninterrupted economic growth of the past eight years, the U.S. unemployment rate is hovering around its lowest level in 30 years and workers have been in increasingly short supply nationwide.
This national trend towards a very low jobless rate, which held steady at 4 percent last month, has been reflected at both the national and the local level.
"The local labor market in Hanover has shown less then one percent unemployment recently," said Assistant Professor of Economics Herbert Schuetze. "I think the bigger problem, though, has been that it's simply very difficult to find enough skilled workers in an area of low population" such as Hanover, he said.
Local restaurants have clearly been affected by the shrinking labor pool. The Dirt Cowboy Caf, which previously remained open until midnight, now closes at 6 p.m. due to the scarcity of available labor.
The College has also been affected by this worker shortage, with many departments currently facing a lack of both student and full-time workers.
Student Employment Office Director Donna Desjardins said, "There are no statistics kept on these things, but certainly Dartmouth Dining Services has experienced difficulties, as have all departments."
Dave Dookeeram '99, Acting Personnel Administrator for DDS, affirmed Desjardins' view: "DDS has seen a drop in student employment from around 175-200 to barely 100 over the last two terms. We've been forced to have employees work overtime, to call people in, and to work with Student Assembly to keep Novack Cafe open into the night -- we do whatever is necessary to provide what students have come to want and expect."
Dookeeram attributed the drop in workers to an increase in employment opportunities, such as those at the newly opened Berry Library, that have allowed students to be more selective in choosing campus jobs.
As a result of the problems caused by a tight labor market, the Student Employment Office has taken measures to encourage more students to work for the College.
"We've been improving the marketing of student employment programs, raising pay rates and adding job perks. We've launched a new website that was created in response to a need to reach students on campus, abroad, and prospective students, and set up a bulletin board in the atrium in Collis," Desjardins said.
Desjardins also questioned claims that fewer students hold campus jobs today than in the past. "There's a myth that not as many students are working as once were, when in fact there has been a slight increase in the number over the last few years."
Amitabh Chandra, assistant professor of Economics, said he predicted no immediate relaxation of the tight job market. "The economy's been expanding -- it's one of the biggest post-World War II gains ever, and we've seen growth across all sectors of the economy."
Even the recent decline in the stock market has had little effect on the availability of jobs, according to Chandra, since the technology companies, which have been hit the hardest, employ too few people to have any statistical effect on the national unemployment rate.
Desjardins, however, viewed the situation as a healthy challenge rather than an insoluble economic problem.
"I wouldn't call it so much a labor shortage as an employment opportunity," she said. "With the strong economy there are many positions that need to be filled, but at the same time there are more opportunities for students than ever before."
