Shore communities scramble to fill summer jobs

Seasonal jobs at the Jersey Shore are getting tougher to fill, so businesses are seeking even more workers from overseas. 

Morey’s Piers in the Wildwoods employs about 1,500 workers for the summer season, and Denise Beckson of the organization said it goes worldwide to hire.

“We participate in a State Department educational exchange program called ‘Summer Work Travel,'” Beckson said. “We recruit university students from all over the globe, to come here to get an experience both cultural and to immerse themselves in it, but also to get work experience.”

Applications have been down about 14 percent this year, she said.  But the response has been good from overseas students.

“We hired from over 30 different countries and have about a third of our workforce on that program,” Beckson said.

The students work alongside American college students who sometimes travel to the other countries to visit their new friends.