“I am a Regional Sales Director for a staffing company in Southern New Hampshire. We offer consultative recruiting and HR services for companies across New England. We work to help companies find staff for open positions that they’ve been unable to fill, among other things including benefits advisement and payroll.

There is a serious workforce shortage in New Hampshire. Our firm is fortunate that we’ve been doing this for a long time, and we’ve got a lot of great relationships. We’re still able to find workers. Clients and partners need us now more than ever, and we’re filling more positions than ever before. But the national workforce shortage is a major issue. 

Lack of access to affordable child care presents a real issue for families and businesses; whether they’re working an entry-, low-, or mid-level position, there are certainly situations where it’s simply too difficult to afford full-time childcare and housing. A couple of weeks ago, two individuals turned down employment offers because they could not find affordable childcare. While some companies have gotten strategic and aggressive by raising salaries, we haven’t seen wages grow proportionally to inflation in over 40 years. Between pandemic and supply chain shortage, inflation is now even worse, and wages are still not keeping up with the costs of childcare, healthcare, and housing. People want to work, but child care needs to be affordable in order for them to do so. In New Hampshire, we are very lean in terms of the assistance provided to working families from a child care perspective. New Hampshire is also a state that does not require any paid time off or parental leave, and doesn’t plan on changing anytime soon. If we were to offer more support, we could provide an immediate solution to a significant portion of the problem, incentivizing the middle class to both work and feel comfortable starting families.”