Local businesses react to latest jobs report

(ABC 6 News) – According to the US Department of Labor, the country added more than 300 thousand jobs last month. The president says that it’s another sign of a strong U.S. economy.

“We’ve created more jobs in the first two years than any administration has created in four years,” said President Biden.

The biggest gains in February coming in the hospitality industry. More than 100 thousand new jobs.

“Housekeeping, maintenance, front desk those positions were eliminated during COVID and now over the last year we’ve been hiring those like crazy,” said Nancy Foster the general manager of Even Hotels in Rochester.

She says they’ve added 10 new employees in the past two months. They’re now at full staff for the first time since the pandemic. The issue now is keeping staff in a competitive job market.

“We try to be very competitive with our pay so that we are retaining our individuals that work here and just to keep it fun and light for our staff so that it’s not so stressful,” said Foster.

Custom Alarm in Rochester has been hiring in admirative and retail roles. But trade jobs have been harder to fill.

“We are looking for people who are electrical technology minded. So, that’s an area we definitely need. And the pool we haven’t seen a lot of people applying,” said Custom Alarm CEO Melissa Brinkman.

They hope job losses in the manufacturing and tech sectors last month – will mean more applicants being added to their hiring pool. Filling those positions will get the company back to full staff.

Here’s the downside. Economists say that the strength of the job market is hampering efforts to cool inflation. And this stronger than expected jobs report is expected to lead to another interest rate hike by the federal reserve. It would be the 9th rate increase in just the last year.