'We just can’t do this anymore': Small business owners say federal unemployment handouts are crippling them NEWS

Small businesses across the country have reportedly fallen on hard times in recent months, but not for lack of business. Rather, they suggest that pandemic-related government handouts are keeping much-needed workers out of the labor force.

Business owners from Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin, and North Carolina told the Dispatch recently that pandemic-enhanced unemployment benefits are stymieing their hiring efforts. It seems, they argued, that people would rather collect money from the government while they can instead of working in lower-wage industries such as the restaurant business.

"I've been in business for 33 years ... this is the absolute worst it's ever been," Bill Anderson, who owns Dale's Diner in Waterville, Ohio, told the news outlet. He added that it's primarily back-of-the-house employees such as dishwashers, managers, cooks that he needs.