WACO, TX — The City of Waco is the first in the state of Texas to reach pre-pandemic levels according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Between March 2020 and March 2021 employment is up by 0.6%, it may not be a full percentage but it's not in the negatives like all other cities.
This is thanks to a growing economy and more businesses opening despite a pandemic. Wako Taco is one of the many that have opened their doors recently. Only open for a month, they went from food truck to brick and mortar.
Since opening, they were able to provide opportunities to now employee Angela Galvan.
"Watching the news seeing that a lot of people didn't have that opportunity right now at the moment so it felt really nice," Galvan said.
Owner, Santi Soto says owning her own restaurant has been a dream and wanted to help other people make money by opening one in a pandemic.
"It was very important to me since I was an employee at some point, and it just felt really nice to be able to provide for other people as well," Soto said.
Although numbers might be going in the right direction, it's getting people to apply that's become an issue.
President of Total Placement Staffing Solutions, Tom Ramsey, says they need to fill 130 jobs by next week and no one is applying.
"Of the existing databases in past employees, we're getting almost unanimously they don't want to return to work right now," Ramsey said.
He knows Waco has become a great place for businesses of all kinds and says Waco will continue to grow.
"For us, it feels like we're way behind, but actually we're filling in excess of 60 job orders a week but we have more than that come over," Ramsey said.
As the economy strengthens, more jobs will need to be filled and Ramsey says they'll work hard to do so but more people need to apply.
With employment levels up Waco became the 15th MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area) in the U.S. to reach pre-pandemic employment levels.
To find more information on current jobs provided by Total Staffing visit their website.
Wako Taco is open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
