Guests will sometimes wait for an hour at Gracie’s on West Main in Upper Leacock Township just because they specifically want to be served by Deanna Coker. With a dedicated following of 30 or so regulars, she is, in the words of her bosses, a professional. Yet, until recently, in a decade of working full-time as a restaurant server Coker never got a paid day off or had health insurance. Most restaurant employees don’t. When Gracie’s on West Main added a service fee, it boosted worker pay and added some benefits. Coker still relies on tips, but she has paid days off, money towards health care and a retirement savings plan to which the restaurant contributes. The fees, also known as living wage fees, back-of-house fees or gratuities, are not common in the restaurant industry, but more places are trying them to attract and keep good employees, grapple with changing rules and help workers struggling with inflation. However, in some cases, customers have resisted or questioned the charges, leading restaurants to rethink their approach.

On a typical day working for Lancaster Emergency Services Community Paramedicine, Jon Kauffman could find himself teaching infant CPR to a new mom, helping a cardiac patient acclimate to being home from the hospital and changing an elderly patient’s wound dressing. On each home visit Kauffman is also assessing the site for dangers, checking medications and housing conditions and often listening for signs of depression or mental health struggles. At 25, Kauffman’s license as a practical nurse has opened the door to a thriving career he never thought possible with a year of training. The Garden Spot High School graduate and Marine Corps veteran does everything an LPN is allowed by law. LPNs are not allowed to do initial assessments that outline a plan of care or give certain intravenous medications that are pushed with a syringe through a catheter or blood. “The opportunity that I have here is just incredible,” Kauffman said of the year old Community Paramedicine program, which is aimed at improving health outcomes of medically vulnerable Lancaster County residents. For years, LPNs mostly were the backbone of the long-term care workforce. In 2013, the majority, or 45%, of LPNs worked in long-term care, according to a study by the University of California San Francisco.

Ericka Miller, 32, of Lancaster Township, traded her 20-minute commute to a preschool for a 45-minute trek to Dauphin County to realize her dream job of being a kindergarten teacher. Miller said she took the kindergarten teacher job in Harrisburg a year ago to make the most of her college degree. “In pre-K you do use your certificate for teaching but the pay isn’t necessarily there,” Miller said. “My dream was to teach kindergarten and first grade.” Miller is part of Lancaster County commuting trends that include longer commutes and more Lancaster County residents drive to jobs outside of the county. The U.S. Census Bureau reports 84,487 – or 34.7% – of workers who live in Lancaster County commuted to jobs outside of the county in 2020, up from 32.6% in 2010 and 23.9% in 2002. That trend comes as Lancaster County commuters' drives to work have grown longer, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Living on a fixed pension income, 66-year-old Lititz retiree Sally Fry works hard to make sure every penny stretches. That’s one of the reasons she shopped for an electricity supplier, signing a contract that will soon end. As she prepares to shop for a new contract and rate there are reasons she and other Lancaster County residents can expect good news despite a recent stretch of energy price increases due to inflation and the Ukraine-Russia war.

Behavioral health workers at Lancaster General Hospital are worried recent cuts to nearly half of their department and elimination of the third shift will put vulnerable patients at risk of longer stays and becoming agitated. Lancaster General Health officials counter that other systems are in place to handle the patients that were once the responsibility of laid off workers. Without the third shift, there will be fewer opportunities for behavioral workers to attempt to de-escalate situations, which could increase agitation and physical acting out in patients, a behavioral health worker told LNP | LancasterOnline. Patients could end up staying longer, the worker contended, which could hurt patient outcomes.

Brittany Hoeschele wouldn’t be working if her daughters didn’t have care at Owl Hill Early Learning Center just outside of Lititz where they can play in the three little pigs theater and learn during space themed days. With more than 1,000 children on waiting lists for child care in Lancaster County, Hoeschele is one of the fortunate parents to find quality care at a time when the lack of staff leaves dozens of classrooms closed, sometimes unexpectedly. Early in the pandemic, Hoeschele lost he

Pennsylvania’s government recently made sweeping changes in its hiring practices in response to the tight labor market and expectations for coming job growth. In January just after taking office, Gov. Josh Shapiro brought attention to the barriers job applicants face when he signed his first executive order removing the college degree requirement for tens of thousands of positions in state government. The order applies to 92% of commonwealth jobs, roughly 65,000 positions in the state. The stat

LNP | LancasterOnline asked the Lancaster County Workforce Development Board for the top jobs that don’t require a college degree. In the last 30 days, 3,057 job openings required a high school degree or equivalent, according to JobsEQ. The median hourly wage for those jobs is about $17.30. Another 372 jobs required an associate degree with a median hourly wage of $23. Some jobs do require certifications or licenses. Occupations were ranked based on the number of job ads over the last 30 days.

The average weekly salary for workers in Lancaster County increased about 7.5% between the third quarter of 2021 and the third quarter of 2022 but remained the lowest of surrounding large counties, according to a new report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The increase also has not kept pace with inflation. The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers increased 8.2% for the year ended September 2022, following a rise of 8.3% from August 2021 to August 2022. Consumer prices for all items less food and energy rose 6.6% over the previous 12 months, the largest 12-month increase since August 1982. Prices for shelter also rose 6.6% from September 2021 to September 2022, accounting for more than 40% of the total increase in all items less food and energy. Lancaster County’s average weekly salary was $1,109 as of September, the most recent data available. That is up from $1,033 in September 2021. The county had a better increase in weekly salary than the national average, but the weekly salary here is lower. In the third quarter of 2022, average weekly wages for the nation increased to $1,334, a 6.7% increase over the year. In the last decade, Lancaster County’s average weekly salary has increased 46% from $756 in 2012. Lancaster County’s neighbors had higher weekly average salaries. In the third quarter of 2022, Berks County’s average weekly salary was $1,162, a 5.4% increase over previous year, while Chester County’s was $1,572, a 9.2% increase. Dauphin County had a $1,269 average weekly salary, which was a 10.4% increase over the same period in 2021. York County’s average weekly salary was $1,158, which represented a 9.6% increase over 2021.

Mary Jones’ first question when Masonic Village introduced robots to her retirement community’s restaurant was, “Are they replacing the staff?” “We like our staff,” said Jones, 78, who has lived at the retirement community in Elizabethtown for 2½ years. The robots, nicknamed Joseph and Mary, do not resemble humans: Standing just under 5 feet tall, they are topped with a large screen and are programmed with a male and female voice. The robots roll across the floor and can carry up to four trays weighing up to a combined 80 pounds. Server Kelsea Eisenbise, who has worked at Masonic Village for 11 years, said a key part of her job is talking with Jones and other residents who come to Cafe 1911, where five servers attend to up to 200 people every lunch. “They are like a second family to me,” Eisenbise said of the people she serves. Knowing residents well enough to notice changes in their moods or health is as important as delivering their meals hot, the 30-year-old Eisenbise said. Industry-wide staffing shortages have left servers like Eisenbise scrambling with less time for residents amid complaints of cold food. Residents spend more time with service staff than anyone else at the facility, said Mike Alampi, 54, assistant director of dining services.

A declining immigrant workforce is making it difficult for Lisa Graybeal to find workers for her Peach Bottom dairy farm. A significant part of the reason is that there’s been a precipitous decline in the kinds of workers – immigrants – that dominate farming employment. Those who come to Pennsylvania on a temporary basis to work – such as farm workers – fell 78% from a high of 724,990 in 2019 to 159,304 in 2021, according to the federal Department of Homeland Security. The group also includes tourists and students. Graybeal said Hispanic workers with seasonal visas do the job domestic workers don't want to do. It’s that way for a lot of larger farms that can’t just rely on family, she said. “In agriculture, I think what I learned is that our labor comes from the Hispanic pool,” Graybeal said. “That’s the way it is. We have to get this country to admit this.” The drop-off in immigrant labor runs deeper than COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. Nationally, economists say a two-year pandemic-induced plunge in immigration accounts for as much as half of 3.5 million lost workers. However, experts say the decline started before the pandemic with changes in immigration policy and that those effects are still being felt in the workforce. According to Homeland Security, legal immigration of new arrivals with lawful permanent resident status - sometimes referred to as a green card - to Lancaster County fell 64% from 545 in 2016 to 194 in 2021. In 2016, Homeland Security recorded 19 people with legal resident status who specifically said they would be working in farming in Lancaster County. By 2021 there were so few that the agency could not report the number without identifying individuals. Locally, immigrants make a small portion of the workforce, but lack of immigrants have an oversized impact in three types of work, where the jobs they tend to get are c

The state’s Department of Labor & Industry Office of Equal Opportunity determined that the Lancaster County Workforce Development Board was a hostile work environment for people of color, according to a notice obtained by LNP|LancasterOnline. The state says there was no single incident in which a racial epithet was used, or that oral or written statements were made related to race. Rather, the state investigator said in the Aug. 8 report that there was “sufficient evidence to establish that the

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates a location quotient number for communities across the country. The location quotient measures the concentration of jobs compared to the national average. For example, a location quotient number of 2 means the concentration of a certain occupation in a specific community is two times higher than the national average. These calculations not only reveal high concentration occupations and employment sectors in specific communities compared to the natio

At George’s Furniture two worn yellow lines wind through the wood shop where a band saw whirrs and whines. The path keeps busloads of visitors a safe distance from the benches where artisans craft bespoke furniture. Furniture-making is so central to Lancaster County’s character and economy that it is marketed to tourists. The concentration of furniture finishers, a key part of the furniture and cabinet making process, in the county is among the highest in the United States. And out of all the high-concentration occupations here, furniture finishing is the highest, according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics annual survey. Lancaster County employs furniture finishers at seven times the national rate. These are people who shape, finish, and refinish damaged, worn, or used furniture or new high-grade furniture to specified color or finish, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said. “The county’s reputation for quality, hand-made furniture has been part of our tourism messaging for many years, as it dovetails well with some of our overarching emphasis points like craftsmanship, unique retail products and experiences, and Amish heritage,” said Joel Cliff, director of communications and advocacy for Discover Lancaster, the county’s tourism agency. Cliff noted that the Amish account for just a portion of the furniture-making community.

Actor Trenton Gunsolley, 24, did not expect to be stripping beds when he came to Bird-in-Hand Family Inn from Colorado in April to portray an Amish farmer, Thaddeus King, in the Leacock Township resort’s production of the musical “A Simple Sanctuary.” But on a recent Thursday he was glad to help the handful of housekeepers faced with turning around almost all of the hotel’s 125 rooms. “This is my first time,” he said as he emptied a waste basket. “It’s been a busy week.” When three tour buses