Sustaining the Austin Workforce Today
The coronavirus pandemic has placed a significant strain on local, national and global economies. Like many cities, the once burgeoning entertainment and hospitality industry of Austin, Texas, was suddenly halted resulting in an immense number of furloughs and unemployment throughout the local economy. Analysis by the Texas Workforce Commission, as reported by Austin Chamber’s Central Texas Economy in Perspective, identified that “Austin’s leisure and hospitality industry has lost nearly half of the jobs the industry had pre-pandemic.”
As many groups across the city and state quickly implemented aid efforts for those affected by the pandemic (more on TNF’s response efforts below), an important insight to the pre-pandemic struggles for these workers has recently been highlighted. Just this week, data analysis from Move.org identified the top 10 least and most livable cities for minimum wage earners in the United States. Austin took the top seat for the “least livable cities for minimum wage earners” in the United States. With the median cost of living in Austin estimated at double that of most Texas cities and a minimum wage of $7.25 per hour (as identified by the Texas Workforce Commission and the Federal minimum wage), this designation at the top of the list was not unexpected. While many Austin-based businesses have committed to pay workers in the hospitality industry above minimum wage, inequities across this industry are still prevalent.
In the last decade, the cost of living in Austin has grown significantly thanks to the influx of numerous corporations and small businesses. Although this has provided a substantial economic boost to the local economy, many workers who support this growing infrastructure have not been provided wages that reflect, even slightly, the increase in the cost of living. Considering that the federal as well as the state minimum wage has not increased since 2009, the opportunities to make real change range from local to state action.
Austin-based organizations are active in local-level wage adjustments. One of the founding tenets of The Nourish Foundation (TNF) is to focus on workforce development and to empower the employers to provide living and sustainable wages along with marketable professional skills and life skills development opportunities. In practice, many local vendors share this viewpoint and have committed to paying workers a living wage (at least $15/hour). Given the current impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the hospitality industry, implementation of these changes will certainly take time – although opportunities on a small scale can be started at present. In the current dire circumstances, even small incremental change can result in a larger impact.
During a recent COVID-19 response project, TNF organized partnerships with local food vendors, chefs, and artisans to provide nourishing meals to households affected by the coronavirus pandemic (earners for these households were employed within the hospitality industry and had either lost employment or suffered significant reduction in hours). With the mission of providing nutritious, locally sourced meals to those in need, TNF and their partners were able to provide job opportunities and living wages during for efforts (learn more here). TNF looks for additional partnerships in the community with the hopes of continuing to plant seeds today for future change.