Fear and Federal Aid Make It Hard for Restaurants to Staff Up

Restaurant managers are scrubbing tables, adding sanitizing stations and printing new menus as they get ready to open their doors. The one thing some of them are missing? People to make and serve the food.

More than 20 million Americans lost their jobs in April during the Covid-19 crisis, but restaurants are still finding it hard to hire help.

Some former employees are making more money now thanks to an extra federal emergency payment of $600 weekly on top of state unemployment benefits. Others have found new jobs or are staying home with kids. Many are simply too nervous to ...