Business

Amid labor shortage, these Pittsburgh companies are filling open roles. Here’s how.

U.S. Steel Tower The Andy Warhol bridge frames the skyline of Pittsburgh seen from the Northside on Wednesday, June 26, 2019. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar) (Gene J. Puskar/AP)

PITTBURGH — As March drew to a close, Klavon’s Ice Cream Parlor in the Strip District found itself without enough workers for the upcoming spring and summer rush, and it certainly did not have enough workers to open the shop to its desired seven days a week schedule.

Then, on March 30, the parlor announced it would more than double the starting wage for the roles, going from $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour, a scoop that seemed to captivate workers throughout the region and one that earned a significant amount of local media coverage.

“It was instant, overnight. We got thousands of applications that poured in,” Maya Johnson, general manager of Klavon’s, said. “It was very overwhelming, very. People were coming in by the next day that it broke on the news, they were coming in, filling out paper applications. I was doing on-the-spot interviews.”

Read more from our news partners at the Pittsburgh Business Times.

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