Since everyone keeps talking about how difficult it is for businesses to find people to work, I decided to take a walk on the Ocean City Boardwalk a few evenings ago and count how many stores had help wanted signs hanging-up.

A few things about my highly unscientific survey here: First, I picked the Ocean City Boardwalk as it is a touristy area and we are heading into what will likely be a very busy summer season in South Jersey. Second, the boardwalk offers stores of all shapes and sizes, from t-shirt places to restaurants, jewelry stores to arcades. Third, my benchmark was looking for stores that actually had signs advertising job openings hanging at their store fronts -- some businesses that may be looking for workers exclusively online were not counted here.

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My journey began at 6th Street, right between Ocean City High School and Gillian's Wonderland Pier. Sadly, I didn't even walk half a block before encountering the first help wanted sign at a little coffee shop right next to Tee Time Golf.

From there, things didn't improve.

Before I even got to 7th Street, I saw a large sign duct taped to the front of Johnson's Popcorn, which perfectly summarized how things are for businesses...

A Shocking Number of Businesses on the Ocean City, NJ, Boardwalk Need Workers

In my walk from 6th to 14th Street, a total of 43 businesses had help wanted signs hanging up.

43!

That's nearly four dozen stores over eight blocks, or about five or six stores per block. And that really is true -- in some areas, store after store after store are all looking for employees.

The job market in Ocean City can be summarized this way: if you want a job, you can have one. Kohr Bros. is hiring if you want to twirl ice cream this summer. You can get a job as a ride operator. You can be hired at any restaurant up and down the entire length of the boardwalk. You can sell t-shirts. You can work selling candy -- heck, you can work making candy. The same with pizza. Little businesses need workers, big businesses need workers.

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