Best online casinos, casino ranking, payout and bonus portal
Casino Struggles for Employees
Since Hurricane Katrina five casinos along the Gulf Coast have reopened and employ around 6,000 workers. With the return of several more casinos imminent, the job market is expected to grow to approximately 10,000 casino job openings.
The region's gambling industry is sprung back faster than many experts initially anticipated after Katrina's powerful winds and storm demolished the dozen casino barges that lined the Mississippi coast.
The first three reopened casinos earned a total gross of $246.6 million from January through April. This is more than half of the amount taken in during the same period prior to Hurricane Katrina. The post-Katrina boom hasn't come without serious challenge for casino operators.
Thousands of veteran casino employees were scattered by Katrina and eroded the pool of potential replacements. The storms devestation destroyed tens of thousands of homes creating a housing shortage that makes it difficult for casinos to recruit new hires and lure back old employees.
According to Larry Gregory, executive director of the Mississippi Gaming Commission housing is the most difficult obstacle the Katrina victims are facing right now.
Casino executives say they're boosting pay, offering more generous benefits and helping workers find affordable housing and childcare, in order to fill jobs in a competitive market.
The hiring competition will only get tougher with several huge projects in the works, including plans by Donald Trump's casino company to build a gambling resort in Diamondhead, west of Biloxi.
Rogena Barnes, the casino's head of human resources, said developers who want to team up with Beau Rivage owned by MGM Mirage Inc., to build housing for its employees have approached the casino.That wouldn't solve any short-term housing needs, however, because any construction project would likely take at least a year to complete.
Saturday, September 16 , 2006
Victor Copeland