OCEAN CITY, Md. -- The number of J1 workers heading to Ocean City this summer is looking much lower than pre-pandemic levels. They are the foreign students who travel here for work during the height of tourist season.
Amy Thompson, Executive Director of the Ocean City Chamber of Commerce, said she's heard a few reports on the possible shortage.
"What I've heard from one sponsor organization is that the volume of students coming here is down 75% from pre-pandemic levels, another sponsor said 50% less," said Thompson.
However, with the height of summer still a few months away, Thompson said it's not time to panic, but businesses in town are feeling a bit of pressure.
"They feel like they're on the struggle bus once again," said Thompson. "I think it's a little early to say for sure, for sure, but I do hear that traditional methods to attract folks to work in the summer, they just need to keep getting more creative and extend that process a little longer."
Thompson said there is not a shortage of J1 workers who want to come to the United States for work, but a lack of affordable housing in Ocean City is keeping people away from the resort town.
One reason for the shortage, is renters changing up their clientele.
"People who would previously rent to seasonal workforce, they’re now looking at the dollar and cents saying I’m gonna make more money renting to a family for a week," said Thompson.
A possible lack of J1 workers is something that could put The Purple Moose Saloon on Ocean City's boardwalk in a sticky situation.
"We depend on having J1," said Bobby Taylor. "As far as my door help, it sometimes can be anywhere from 70% of our labor here."
However, Taylor said last year there seemed to be a similar issue heading into summer, but the problem worked itself out, and The Purple Moose ended up turning people away in May.
Dolle's ended up taking matters into their own hands to try and get around the lack of available housing. Andrew Dolle, owner of Dolle's, said they looked outside of downtown, going over the Route 50 Bridge into West Ocean City.
"With less and less affordable housing here in town, we decided to purchase two town homes to keep all of our J1 students this year," said Dolle.
Dolle said because of the longer distance to and from work, they set up a plan to pick up and drop off J1 students.
As far as solutions go, the Chamber of Commerce said the town has considered building dorms. But, they are also hopeful renters begin shifting back to renting to more J1 workers, instead of vacationers.
