- Understaffed pools across the US are cutting their opening hours or even temporarily closing.
- 12 out of 17 public pools in the city of Indianapolis are currently closed, the AP reported.
- Pools are pushing up wages or offering hiring bonuses to help combat the shortage of lifeguards.
Swimming pools across the US have been cutting their opening hours or even temporarily closing because they can't find lifeguards.
In Indianapolis, Indiana, 12 of the city's 17 public pools are currently closed due to staff shortages, according to a report by the Associated Press.
And at the pool in Frederick Douglass Park, some families have been arriving more than an hour before it opens and it often reaches capacity, Ashley Ford, pool manager at Indy Parks and Recreation, told the AP.
The department usually has 200 lifeguards on its books but this year has only half that, she said, despite putting up starting pay from $13 to $15 an hour earlier this year.
Indianapolis has listed vacancies for summer lifeguard positions at 16 of its 17 pools. Some are also recruiting for head lifeguards, who earn $15.75 an hour, and one pool is hiring for a pool manager at an hourly wage of $16.50.
The pools at some of Indiana's state parks have also had to reduce their opening hours, though all 37 remain open, the parks' director told the AP. Lifeguards there are paid from $10.25 an hour.
Outside the state of Indiana there is a similar story. Pools across the US are struggling to find enough staff, and this is set to get worse later in the summer as some lifeguards return to school, Bernard J. Fisher II, director of health and safety at the American Lifeguard Association, told the AP.
"It is a disaster," he said.
In Chicago, for example, a "favorable number" of qualified people have applied for seasonal lifeguard positions and many have completed the required testing, but "only a small percentage of candidates have followed through with the onboarding process," according to the city's park district.
As of late May, Austin had less than a third of the 750 lifeguards the city needed to operate city pools over the summer, while Seattle Parks and Recreation had less than half its usual summer workforce in early June.
"The regional and national lifeguard shortage is real," Rosa Escareño, CEO of the Chicago Park District, said in a statement. The city, which pays lifeguards $15.88 an hour, is now offering new hires a $600 retention bonus as well as $500 to current staff who refer successful candidates.
And some pools and beaches across the US have chosen to open without lifeguards on watch, including some in Maine and Wisconsin, AP reported.
Employers across the US, from police departments and airlines to ice-cream parlors and hospitals, say they're struggling to both find and retain enough workers.
People have quit their jobs in record numbers during the pandemic in search of higher wages, better benefits and hours, and an altogether improved work-life balance.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn't release data specifically for lifeguards, but it estimated that workers in the broader category of lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers earned $13.14 an hour on average as of May 2021. Around 114,320 people were employed in these jobs, per the data.