Landscapers across northeastern Ohio are worried that what could be a boom spring/summer season may turn into a bust or worse.
"This lack of labor is going to decide whether we grow, survive or close," says Joe Drake, president of J.F.D. Landscapes in Chagrin Falls, Ohio.
The small business owners say they can't get enough American workers to take jobs at competitive wages and two programs that usually allow them to hire seasonal foreign workers are stalled in Congress.
Asked if they could attract more U.S. workers by paying higher wages, Ken Thiergartner of Brookside Landscape in Medina, Ohio, says, "We hear that story a lot. It's a misconception. We start everyone out at $13.10 an hour. Almost double what minimum wage is."
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