Joe Biden told a struggling restaurateur to simply 'pay staff more' at a town hall on Wednesday night after he asked him what he was going to do to get people back to work after increasing unemployment benefits by so much that business owners can't compete.
The President was speaking at a half-empty town hall in Cincinnati when he was asked by Ohio restaurant owner John Lanni how he planned to resolve the labor crisis unfolding across America.
Lanni owns the Thunderdome Restaurant Group which has 39 restaurants across the country but said he, like thousands of others, can't find staff willing to take jobs because they earn more to do nothing and claim COVID payments instead.
The result is fast-moving inflation that is already presenting itself in stores, bars and restaurants across the country.
'The entire industry, amongst other industries, continues to struggle to find employees. How do you and the Biden administration plan to incentivize those that haven't returned to work yet? Hiring is our top priority right now,' Lanni asked the President.
In response, Biden wiped his hands of the issue and said it was the 'industry's' responsibility. He then claimed that the government had done enough to keep restaurants open during the pandemic and that he has a sister-in-law who works in Atlantic City as a waitress and is doing 'fine'.
'I think it really is a matter of people deciding now that they have opportunities to do other things and there's a shortage of employees. People are looking to make more money and to bargain. And so I think your business and the tourist business is really going to be in a bind for a little while.
'People being seven, $8 an hour plus tips, that's - I think, John, you're going to be finding 15 bucks an hour or more now,' he said.
Lanni said later Biden 'didn't answer the question' and other restaurant owners said the response showed the President does not understand the labor crisis unfolding across his country.
Unemployment numbers across America continue to soar despite there being a huge number of jobs on the market. One of the reasons is that under the Biden administration, a person can claim the equivalent of more than $30,000-a-year in unemployment benefits - significantly more than in the past, and about on-par with many restaurant and bar jobs.
Frustrated restaurant and bar owners who were financially knee-capped by lockdown closures now find themselves having to increase their prices in order to compete with the unemployment benefits and hire new staff. The result is fast-rising inflation, which is already presenting itself in stores, bars and restaurants.
John Lanni, the co-owner of a restaurant group that has 39 venues across the country, on Wednesday night asked Joe Biden what the president could do to try and help him find more staff for his restaurants. Biden replied that wages needed to go up
'We are in a labor crisis and we need to find a way to incentivize people to get back to work. I just heard restaurants are going to have a hard road going forward and that we need to pay our workers more. That’s happening and it’s still not enough,' he told The Cincinnati Enquirer.
Taste of Belgium owner Jean-Francois Flechet added: 'I understand where the president was going; everyone deserves a living wage; But he was mixing answers. This wasn’t about living wages.
'Anybody who works Thunderdome or Taste of Belgium make more than $15 an hour. I don’t know that he fully understands the challenges we are facing.
'If we cannot find workers, restaurants cannot survive,' he said.
Biden, in his response to Lanni, said the government had spent 'billions' keeping restaurants open.
'Two things. One, if you notice, we kept you open. We spent billions of dollars to make sure restaurants could stay open and a lot of people who now work as waiters, waitresses decided that they don't want to do that anymore because there was other opportunities at higher wages because there was a lot of openings now in jobs and people are beginning to move.
Clever camera angles showed a packed auditorium, but reporters noticed plenty of empty seats. A CNN spokesman said that the crowd was usual for their town halls. It was unclear whether that was because of the pandemic
'There's some evidence that maintaining the ability to continue to not have your - have to pay your rent so you don't get thrown out and being able to provide for unemployment insurance - has kept people from going back to work.
'There's not much distinction between not going back to work in a restaurant and not going back to work at a factory. So people are looking to change opportunities, change what they're doing.'
Biden told Lanni that his sister-in-law in Atlantic City was a waitress, and doing well. He told how his late wife Neilia's father tried to convince him to take over their restaurant in Syracuse, New York - but Biden saw how hard the work was.
John Lanni asked Biden how he could improve the situation for business owners struggling to find enough workers
'But all kidding aside, I think it really is a matter of people deciding now that they have opportunities to do other things and there's a shortage of employees, people are looking to make more money and to bargain,' Biden continued.
'So I think your business and the tourist business is really going to be in a bind for a little while.
'We're ending all of those things keeping people from going back to work, et cetera.
'It will be interesting to see what happens, but my gut tells me, my gut tells me that part of it relates to, you know, you can make a good salary as a waiter or waitress.'
'But there's a lot of people who are looking to change their occupation.
'I could be wrong.'
Pressed on what he could do to help Lanni, the president said that the government had implemented programs to keep businesses running.
'John, first of all, the thing we did to help John and the Johns out is provide billions of dollars to make sure they could stay open, number one,' Biden said.
'So you all contributed to making sure John could stay in business.
'And we should. We should have done that, as we did for other industries.
'But secondly, John, my guess is that people being seven, $8 an hour plus tips, that's - I think, John, you're going to be finding 15 bucks an hour or more now.
'But you may pay that already. You may pay that already.'
U.S. states putting an early end to federal unemployment benefits saw a larger jump in local labor supply in June - above people line up outside a newly reopened career center for in-person appointments in Louisville
A 'Now Hiring' sign advertising jobs at a hand car wash is seen along a street in Miami, Florida in 2020
Asked directly by the host, Don Lemon, whether he accepted that the unemployment benefits disincentivized people from finding work, Biden demurred.
'I don't think it did much,' the president said.
'It's argued that because the extended unemployment benefits kept people at home.'
Lemon asked: 'You don't think it did that?'
Biden replied: 'I see no evidence it had any serious impact on it.
'You can argue it.
'Let's assume it did. It's coming to an end. It's not like we're in a situation where if that was it and it ends, then John's going to have no problem.'
He added: 'But, folks, look, here's the deal. Think about it.
'One of my programs is make sure that we have four more years of school that's free, two years for three-year-olds and four-year-olds, because it's demonstrated that increases significantly success and community college,' he said.
'Those folks are not likely to want to go and be waiters. Nothing wrong with being a waiter or waitress, my family's been involved in that business.
'If you make less than 15 bucks an hour working 40 hours a week, you're living below the poverty level. You're living below the poverty level.'
Lanni, a registered Republican, told The Cincinnati Enquirer that he was unsatisfied with Biden's response, and added that they are paying, with tips, at least $15 in most cases.
'I was hoping he would recognize it is every industry's dilemma,' he said after the event.
'We are in a labor crisis and we need to find a way to incentivize people to get back to work. I just heard restaurants are going to have a hard road going forward and that we need to pay our workers more.
'That's happening and it's still not enough.'
Lanni said 80 to 90 per cent of his company's workers make more than livable wage, if it's considered $15 an hour.
Citing workforce shortages, 26 states terminated early at least one of the three pandemic unemployment insurance programs Congress enacted in March 2020 and extended twice. The Biden administration has said governors could restart the programs if they chose to.
Some 4.1 million Americans will be affected by the states ending benefits early, according to The Century Foundation.
Some economists argue the federal benefit remains an economic lifeline, that many jobless Americans want to return to work but aren't able to because they can't access child care or remain fearful of contracting COVID-19.
But many of the states decided to end the benefits after some business owners complained of being unable to fill jobs.
Workers in Indiana, Maryland, Texas and Ohio sued their states for ending jobless benefits early.
Judges in Maryland and Indiana made decisions to temporarily reinstate federal benefits.
Biden appeared to accept that the additional unemployment payments may have discouraged people from working.
State-level jobs data released earlier this month show that in the 26 states stopping benefits early an additional 174,000 people joined the labor force in June, by either taking jobs or beginning work searches, compared to 47,000 in the other states.
The numbers are small in a national labor force of 161 million and come with a cautionary note: Job gains in both groups of states were roughly the same.
There were plenty of empty seats in the venue on Wednesday night - either from COVID precautions or lack of interest
A CNN spokesman said that the attendance was normal for a town hall, but there were plenty of free seats
The CNN town hall seemed to draw a meagre crowd for Biden, with photos from journalists showing row upon row of empty seats.
Donald Trump, who held large rallies through much of the pandemic, frequently taunted Biden for small crowds, which Biden on the campaign trail made a deliberate policy to avoid the spread of COVID-19.
It is unclear if the room was half-full due to concerns about the virus or due to a lack of public interest. A White House official referred an inquiry to CNN.
CNN spokeswoman Lauren Pratapas told The New York Post: 'This was a typical audience size for a CNN town hall.'
She did not elaborate on the reason for the small crowd size.
On social media, people were quick to note the empty room.
Radio host Mark Vargas noted: 'President Biden speaks to a half empty room during a town hall tonight with @donlemon.
'This is Hamilton County in Cincinnati, a county that Biden won in 2020. Let that sink in.'
Steve Herman, Voice of America's White House bureau chief, tweeted another picture and said: 'The audience for the @CNN ‘town hall’ is all seated in forward rows. Back of the auditorium is empty.'
One critic tweeted: 'THE JIG IS UP More than half empty.'
Another said: '#JoeBiden - even people who voted for him can't be bothered.'
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