Texas small-business owners tell Gov. Abbott the labor shortage is hurting them

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott met with 12 small-business owners from around Texas on Friday and heard a common theme: They need more workers if they are going to succeed.

The roundtable took place at the Dallas Farmers Market as part of National Small Business Week. The business owners were all members of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices community, which advocates for policies that matter to members.

“We focus on workers because we know you need employees to make your business work,” Abbott told them.

While 73% of U.S. small businesses are currently hiring, 87% of those hiring are finding it difficult to fill those spots with qualified workers, according to a survey this month from Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices.

Hyacinth Belcher runs Dallas live events company Onstage Systems and had to let 80% of her staff go overnight. Her company lost 70% of its revenue for 18 months due to the pandemic. For three months last year, it had zero revenue.

“We lost millions,” she said. “A lot of people left the industry.”

A second-generation family business, Onstage used its savings to survive 2020. It also received two forgivable loans and one low-interest loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Now business is picking back up. In late April, it worked the Ubbi Dubbi electronic dance music festival, which was dubbed the first festival back after the pandemic caused most events to be canceled in 2020.

But Belcher said she doesn’t have enough employees to handle the increase in requests. Before the pandemic, she had 50 full-time employees. Now, she has 25 full-time employees and is struggling to find more.

“Between 45% and 50% of the Texas workforce works for small businesses so if we fail, the state economy fails,” she said.

Belcher suggested that Abbott and the state work on helping business owners provide child care for employees to help bring them back to work. The Goldman Sachs survey showed that 44% of small-business owners think a return for kids to remote learning would make it difficult to retain employees.

Brandi Harleaux, who runs metal recycling company South Post Oak Recyling Center in Houston, said revenue is higher now than before the pandemic because it’s part of the manufacturing supply chain that’s in high demand.

But hiring remains a challenge, she said.

The company, which has 28 employees, has five open positions. About 30% of interviews are no-shows, she said.

“Workers on unemployment need to be held accountable,” she said.

A box on unemployment benefit applications that requires a business owner to check off that they showed up to the interview could be a solution, she said. And easing people off unemployment benefits should be a priority, she said.

Nearly 760,000 Texans were unemployed in August, according to new data released by the Texas Workforce Commission.