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| Courtesy of Morey's Piers |
Late Sunday evening, The Wall Street Journal reported that the White House was considering major reductions to/the potential elimination of various work-travel programs.
This includes the J-1 SWT visa exchange program, which Morey's Piers cited as a "crucial resource for seasonal employment" in a release the following day.
Since then, several news outlets have picked up the story, including Philadelphia Magazine, Philly.com and NBC10.com. The common theme in each of these pieces has been the concern of local tourism officials and business owners for the negative - potentially "devastating" - impact such moves could have on the local economy, and beyond.
The bottom line, according to Morey's Piers representative Denise Beckson, is that the pool of local, available hirees is simply too shallow, and the seasonal influx of J-1 students is necessary to maintain current operations. Beyond that, changes to work-travel programs would all but certainly cause a trickle down effect throughout the region, hurting businesses and American workers as well.
Wildwood 365 had the opportunity to speak with Beckson by phone, to discuss the scope of this matter, and to clarify aspects of the J-1 program...
[Our questions are in bold, responses in plain text; spaces are utilized to break up large blocks of text.]
First off, could you summarize the current situation with regard to work-travel programs and how this could affect the Morey Organization, as well as the local economy?
We were interviewed by The Wall Street Journal regarding a memo that went to the State Department from the White House, allegedly asking the State Department to write regulations to eliminate or drastically reduce the J-1 summer work-travel program along with a couple of other J-1 categories. When we heard that news, it was obviously alarming to us. And we are just trying to make sure that people understand in both government and the public the impact this can have on tourism areas, not just at the Jersey Shore but nationally.
When you look at where students are placed, in Massachusetts, in Florida, Pennsylvania... there are only 100,000 of these visas issued. It's not a huge number, but it is one of the pistons in the tourism economic engine. When you remove that, who do you replace it with? That's part of the problem. The areas that use these students are typically more remote resort areas, like the Wildwoods, that don't have large local year-round populations to support their seasonal influx of vacation guests.
If the programs are cut, in terms of Morey's Piers and our business, we won't be able to operate in the same manner and fashion that we do today. We'll have to look at things like shortening the season. Maybe we won't be able to open for the season at Easter. We might have to open Memorial Day instead. We might not be able to stay open until Columbus Day. So we're looking at a shorter operating season, potentially a shorter operating day.
We could also be looking at less offerings. Instead of getting more rides, perhaps having less rides because we wouldn't have people to operate them. Certainly no capital expenditures, or new things because everything would be dependent on having the labor to staff it. So we'll have to downsize. And downsizing hurts American workers. We have Americans who work the entire season, from when we open to when we close. So if we don't open in March, they're not working. And if we close in September, they're not working through mid-October. So it's going to hurt the seasonal American locals who are here every year.
In addition, obviously with less operating hours or time, one would imagine there would be less revenue. So it will have an impact on our full-time staff. We're going to have to downsize our full-time staff because we won't be able to afford the 140 year round people we currently employ. You also have to think about everyone who supplies to us. We get our potatoes from Tony's Produce, a local company. We buy a lot of potatoes from them for Curley's Fries. If we're not open as much and we're running a shorter season, then we're not selling as many Curley Fries and therefore, not buying as many potatoes.
You look at all the businesses - Tony's, Island Ice Cream, South Jersey Paper, many more. All of these companies that we're buying from, we're going to have decreased needs. And if we're not open as much, it will surely affect them. I think of the piers as the anchor store in a mall. If we're not open, I think less people come to the Boardwalk, and that impacts every business there. And it impacts the hotels. It's this huge ecosystem of tourism in the area that will be negatively impacted.
New Jersey has, annually, over 5,000 J-1 students working. And of that, about 2,800 are in Cape May County. It's a big number, but when you look at all the businesses and all the people working, it doesn't account for anywhere close to all the jobs. But it certainly is helping to drive that economic engine. When you don't have that, it's going to have a big impact on your shoulder seasons. It raises some serious questions we haven't had to think about. When kids go back to school in mid-August, are we shutting the season down then or maybe right after Labor Day?
It's an issue for us, for New Jersey. But it will greatly impact so many areas.
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| Courtesy of Morey's Piers |
That plays into a question we hear a lot: 'Why not simply hire more locals, more Americans?'
We hire 82% of the applicants we get that continue to pursue the job. Some people withdraw themselves, but of those who don't, 82% are hired. For those who are not hired, typically this is the result of certain restrictions or regulations. For instance, due to minor labor laws, we can't let someone younger than 16 to operate a ride, or a water slide. We can't let them operate a fryer, they can't serve alcohol until they are 18. There are restrictions for what age you have to be employed in some positions. Because of these regulatory restrictions, we have to turn some minor applicants down. We encourage those folks to apply again when they are older.
We want to hire as many locals as we possibly can, as many Americans as we possibly can. We have a 46% retention rate for Americans. So we know if we hire you, you're likely to come back for another year. That's less training for us, plus you're a more informed employee. They can go on to become our supervisors. And so, in terms of investment, we much prefer folks who come year after year and become part of our ongoing seasonal employment family.
But we can't get enough applicants to fill the jobs we have. We do many types of outreach. We work with the local high school. Wildwood High School graduated 52 kids this year, that's not enough to staff us. In Wildwood in the winter stop lights are turned off; we don't have the local population to meet our employment needs. People love to visit here, but don’t necessarily make it a year round home. It's difficult to support these businesses without supplementing our labor force.
What other alternatives have been tried?
We have tried to do a program with retirees who travel the country in their RVs. We've worked with realtor referral programs, college ambassador programs. We've advertised to a number of universities. It's difficult, because we're remote and there's a lot of local competition. Kids these days want to get summer internships, they want to travel themselves. We had 1,500 season positions open this summer. We were advertising all season and didn't fill them all.
I started working here in 1985, while I was in high school. Back then, you got a summer job. Nowadays, there are soccer clubs, types of athletic sports camps, so many things that people chose to do with their summer, that the summer job as a rite of passage for youth just isn't the same as it was 30 years ago.
But interesting to note, when I started working here in 1985, cutting wristbands off of people leaving the water park, there were J-1 work travel students here then. So we've been participating in this program for over 30 years, because we can't otherwise fully staff. They have been a supplement to us for as long as I can remember. And when I started, it wasn't new then.
And when we're talking about seasonal operations, help is especially needed at the front and back ends, correct?
Absolutely, these students are critical for shoulder operations. We hire international students to arrive as early as March or April, depending on when we open, based around Easter. And those students are here April, May, part of June and then they leave, and then we have our students who come in May and June, and stay until September. Our high schools don't finish until late June on a good year.
Sometimes there are snow days and extensions to the school year. And colleges go back earlier now.
Sometimes there are snow days and extensions to the school year. And colleges go back earlier now.
We lost people at the beginning of August, and we lose our high school students with a lot of them going back to school before Labor Day. But even precipitating that is band camp, soccer camp, football camp; there are so many activities that kids are involved in these days that are priority over summer jobs.
So, really, we depend on these J-1 students to extend the season on the front end and the back end.
So, really, we depend on these J-1 students to extend the season on the front end and the back end.
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| Courtesy of Morey's Piers |
Does Morey's pay international students the same salary as American workers?
Yes. However, I think that people incorrectly assume that we're not paying them as much as we pay Americans. The State Department requires we pay a competitive wage: the same wage to a J-1 as to an American doing the same job.
In complete transparency, we don't pay the same payroll taxes. J-1s cannot collect social security, therefore they do not pay into it and neither does the employer. So, there is a slight savings there, BUT, whatever savings we have, is negated because it costs us more to participate in the program than we save. We have requirements to have cultural programming, we have requirements to provide for their safety and well being, there are administrative costs, it takes us longer to train a J-1 student than an American employee, etc. We have cost analysis that show we spend more than we save… we do not participate in this program to save money, just the opposite is true.
The other thing often heard is that we don't pay enough, that the students don't know any better and they come over and take the jobs and we don't have to pay more because we're paying these kids a low rate. That's also untrue. It really all goes back to not having the local population more than the wage we pay. American high school and college students simply cannot work in April, May, September, and parts of June and August because of school commitments, regardless of the pay rate.
These are entry level, starter jobs. We have 14 and 15-year-olds working here, and they do get minimum wage. Plus a season pass, plus discounts on food, plus passes for friends and family, plus the parties that we run. A lot of things we are offering as an overall comprehensive employment package, and we're offering them to domestic as well as international employees.
We also have plenty of folks who make more than minimum wage, we had jobs in those categories that also went unfilled this summer. So, it is not a simple as if you pay them more, they will come.
Who oversees the J-1 program? Could you give a little background on how it's run?
It's a U.S. Department of State program. In a nutshell, the State Department certifies the sponsors, the sponsors work with companies in various countries to advertise the program and attract students, the sponsors also work with employers to place those students in jobs. Next, the students have to be approved.
First they are interviewed in their home country by the sponsor affiliates, then they have an interview with the employer or employer representative for the position. Finally, they have an interview at the U.S. Embassy or consulate in their home country, they have to pass US Government screenings which include an English skills assessment.
First they are interviewed in their home country by the sponsor affiliates, then they have an interview with the employer or employer representative for the position. Finally, they have an interview at the U.S. Embassy or consulate in their home country, they have to pass US Government screenings which include an English skills assessment.
How and why is this program important to Morey's Piers, beyond the crucial staffing issues we've discussed?
The program’s focus is to foster cultural exchange. At a time when U.S. favorability is not high around the world, this lets people come here and experience our culture and society first hand. Maybe they don't agree with our politics, but once they come, overwhelmingly, they have an amazing affinity for the people. And that's really important as we head into this somewhat scary world with all kind of unrest and conflict, to have people have an affinity for their friends, the Americans.
There's also a cultural exchange happening in the reverse. I've seen local kids who have not previously traveled far and wide go overseas to Turkey or go over to Spain and visit friends they met here in the summer. It's really making the world a more relatable place for everyone. It's absolutely a benefit to our American workers to work alongside people from different cultures.
They learn that people are generally the same no matter where you are in the world. Cultures and practices may be different, but people want to enjoy themselves, they want to be loved, they want to be safe. So, I feel like this program is just so beneficial for the kids who come here and the kids who are from here.
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| Courtesy of Morey's Piers |
And what does it mean to you, personally?
As I mentioned, I started here while in high school in 1985. It was a seasonal job that I thought I might have for a few years. I wound up working summers through high school, through college and grad school. When I finished grad school, I was offered a full-time position and I've never regretted it. I started recruiting [international students] in 2001. I love spending half of my year inside in my office and the other half outside. I enjoy working with our kids. I love that we're able to provide a place for families to come and make memories together.
I love what we're able to provide for all of our American employees, especially those just starting their working career as young as 14 years old. There may be kids who aren't the most popular in school; they're still finding themselves. They have a chance to reinvent themselves here. And it's rewarding. Seeing kids who make these connections, riding the rides together after work in the summer. This wouldn't be possible without work-travel programs.
The experience they get, that we all get, working together with people from so many different countries and cultural backgrounds, it's amazing. I truly believe working here can help shape who you become as an adult; I know first-hand, it did for me.
So, what's the plan to combat this, to convince the current administration not to make cuts to J-1?
Really, it's just a matter of trying to get an audience with people who make these decisions in DC and have them hear from stakeholders.
The Alliance for International Exchange is working to do that.
There's a coalition, Americans for Cultural Exchange, a group of over 600 businesses, as well as government officials and associations that have signed on to speak out about how important the J-1 program is to America's tourism economy. And I think what people can do is go to their website and learn more about the program.
Supporters can also call their local congressman and let them know that this is important to either the community they live in or the community they visit. And also call the White House Public Affairs Office and the State Department to voice concern.
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