Eric Martinez | staff writer

As of April 6, the American unemployment rate was thirteen percent as reported by the New York Times. This does not include migrant and illegal workers. Because of the rise in unemployment systemically it may be harder for high schoolers to even find the part time employment they need.

“More people would be great for late night shifts and Sundays, but for afternoons and evenings on weekdays and Saturday we are well staffed,” Sonic employee Gabriel Farias said.

Due to COVID-19 some staff had to stay home due to parent concerns.

“Some staff have been forced to stay home because of parent’s concerns, others have been limited to do certain tasks at work,” Farias said.

Some local cafes had to reduce staff shifts due to COVID-19. 

“Some employees are scared to work, so they are three of us sharing shifts throughout the whole week. We have lost so many customers that we only need one employee in the shop at a time, except for weekends,” Grand Donuts employee Colette Lund said.

COVID-19 has led to new cleaning guidelines at Grand Donuts and other restaurants.

“We only do drive thru, we have to wear gloves, mask, and a face shield. We use hand sanitizer or wash our hands constantly. And we are constantly cleaning everything with Lysol,” Lund said.

Farias and Lund don’t believe he will be fired due to COVID-19, but are prepared if it happens.

“I would not be fired, but if the occasion happens (on the rarest occasion) my general manager would have to ask employees to be temporarily laid off,” Farias said.

Some employees weren’t so lucky – especially those in non-essential businesses like movie theaters.

“Well, I worked at Regal Cinema 14 before I was furloughed,” former Regal employee Bryce Schuster said. “I was furloughed when the 10 person maximum was put into place; we’d all assumed that dude to the low numbers Regal wasn’t able to turn a profit.”