There was something about the kids packing groceries at the Village Market that didn't sit right with Lisa Magloff, a reporter for the Snowmass Village Sun. Maybe it was the fact some of them had trouble lifting the bags. The Village Market debacle touched a nerve in the mountains of labor-starved Colorado. The papers are crammed with help-wanted ads.
Many people work two jobs, because they can.
Labor woes are in full bloom. Hotels and restaurants, perennially hit by a shortage of workers, are feeling a nasty pinch. Analysts are forecasting unemployment at 3.5 percent this year, down from 6.6 percent five years ago, with problems aggravated by the fact that the working-class can afford to live very few places. With 30 of Silvertree's 330 staff positions vacant, Coleman daily screens a steady blur of applicants. He soon hit pay dirt.