A shortage of workers in Casper has forced A&W Family Restaurant to close during the lunch shift on Wednesdays.

And other businesses are having problems filling jobs, too.

There are approximately 600 job openings in the Casper area, 400 of them in retail or food service areas, said Chuck Blackwell of the Casper Workforce Center.

"That's the most there has ever been," he said.

He said the unemployment rate in Casper has dropped below 3 percent and the number of jobs has been building for about nine months, driven by the state's oil and gas boom.

At A&W, the problem has only grown, said owner Bob Sheppard.

Sheppard said cutting back his business's hours was the only option left.

Employees are hard to find, and harder to keep if they're overworked or underpaid.

If he gives a steady employee a day off, he has trouble with less reliable employees calling in sick or failing to show up on the same day.

There are too many unreliable workers in the market, with employers forced to hire them out of the shortage.

"Nobody is checking references," he said. "Nobody is asking for references."

And employee pay is inflating fast.

"Pay has been going up by leaps and bounds," he said. "If they don't like what you do or the job, they know they can go get a job somewhere else.

"It doesn't matter in Casper, Gillette or Wyoming, everyone is having the same problem," he said.

McDonald's has been dealing with a similar shortage of workers, with one Casper restaurant currently advertising 15 to 20 job openings with pay starting at $7.35 an hour. That fast-food giant has even put job applications in some to-go bags.

At Dairy Queen, evening shifts are filled with teenagers, but morning shifts are hard to staff, said assistant manager Rhonda Nickerson.

That chain offers incentives for employees, ranging from five days of paid vacation for workers who average 30 hours a week for a year to discounts on food and ice cream treats for employees and their families.

Even then, the restaurant has to be careful to work around people's schedules, particularly with teen employees.

"It's what you have to do anymore," Nickerson said. "Sometimes we get a good group and sometimes we really have to push."

Meanwhile, back at A&W, Sheppard said the past four or five months have been his worst in 53 years in the restaurant business and he's not willing to subject his customers to his staffing problems.

"When I can't give decent service and you can't service them correctly, you're really hurting yourself by opening," Sheppard said.

For the related article click on the link below.

Missing manpower

Reporter Lesley Lipska can be reached at Lesley.Lipska@casperstartribune.net.