McDonald’s opening thousands of new jobs in Central Florida amid worker shortage

5,000 available across Central Florida, 650 in Orlando

(AP Photo/Matt Rourke) (Matt Rourke, Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

ORLANDO, Fla. – McDonald’s announced it is opening up 650 new positions in Orlando and 5,000 across Central Florida in an effort to get more people to work this fall.

Local McDonald’s Franchise Owner and Operator Ania Nitzche made the announcement Friday.

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“In addition to gaining experiencing knowledge in the hospitality industry, McDonald’s restaurant employees develop teamwork, customer service, responsibility and time management skills that are sought after by hiring managers across the nation,” Nitzche said.

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According to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, heading into the summer, Florida saw more than 500,000 available jobs posted online throughout the state.

News 6 spoke to Mayor Buddy Dyer about the problem of labor shortage in the City Beautiful including the airport where leaders held several job fairs throughout the summer.

“A whole variety of industries in Central Florida were experiencing worker shortages and there’s a lot of barring reasons for that — from people being worried about COVID to not having daycare to looking for higher wages to changing the style in which they work, where they want to work from if they can,” Dyer said.

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Signs that read “help wanted” are still hanging on windows with business owners desperate to hire more workers.

“I encourage employers to be innovative on working conditions and incentives to employees,” Dyer said.

The problem even forced some businesses to temporarily close to make up for their lack of workers, like the Tin and Taco locaton in the College Park neighborhood.

The restaurant had a sign on the window that read “Due to staffing issues we will be temporarily closed at this location.”

No word yet on when workers will be back to reopen.


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About the Author:

Ezzy Castro is a multimedia journalist on News 6's morning team who has a passion for telling the stories of the people in the Central Florida community. Ezzy worked at WFOR CBS4 in South Florida and KBMT in Beaumont, Texas, where she covered Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Being from Miami, Ezzy loves Cuban coffee and croquetas!

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