Poultry Producers Facing Worker Shortage

America’s appetite for chicken keeps growing but the appetite for working in a chicken plant is another story.

According to a recent report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, processors in Georgia’s $4 billion poultry industry — the largest in the country — say they are grappling with a labor shortage that is contributing to falling inventories and rising prices for consumers.

The Wayne Farms chicken processing facility in Pendergrass, about 55 miles north of Atlanta off I-85, says it had 200 openings on its production line in the first week of May, but that fewer than five people applied for jobs.

Fieldale Farms, a poultry company about 15 miles from Pendergrass, said it’s 1,000 workers short.

Tom Hensley, Fieldale’s president told the paper they should have 4,700 workers but only have 3,700 – the worst it’s ever been.

Poultry processors say a big part of the problem is the federal unemployment benefits that have been disbursed during the pandemic, keeping potential workers on the sidelines.

It’s a view shared by employers in other industries as many struggle to rehire enough workers after laying off hundreds of thousands of Georgians earlier in the pandemic.

Gov. Brian Kemp recently announced however, that Georgia will end the $300 weekly federal supplements for unemployed workers on June 26.

Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said earlier this month that Georgia will again require that the more than 200,000 recipients of state jobless benefits prove they are applying for at least three jobs a week, and will ask businesses that are hiring to report any unemployment recipient who turns down a job offer or refuses to work.

State jobless benefits pay up to $365 a week while the federal incentive adds $300 weekly. That’s the equivalent of $16.63 an hour.

Hensley, at Fieldale Farms, estimated the average hourly pay in the industry is about $14 an hour, but companies like his include benefits such as health insurance and a 401k match.

Economists say other forces also are keeping people out of the workforce, such as parents staying home to care for children who are still learning remotely.