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Papa Murphy's national chain struggles to hire during pandemic

Headquartered in Vancouver, Wash., the pizza company and its franchises are scrambling to fill dozens of job openings in the Portland area alone.

VANCOUVER, Wash. — Papa Murphy's take-and-bake pizza restaurants have dozens of job openings in the Portland metro area as the chain struggles to hire workers during the pandemic. 

Based in Vancouver, Wash., Papa Murphy's International oversees more than 1,300 locations in the U.S. and Canada, including about 55 near Portland and Vancouver. Most of its locations are franchises owned by individuals. 

"It's been hard. Our owners have struggled to find folks and keep folks," said Stephanie Richmond, Papa Murphy's senior vice president of human resources.

She said a number of franchisees are doing what they can beyond competitive wages to attract workers, such as offering referral bonuses and hiring bonuses. 

The hiring struggles that Papa Murphy's is facing nearly two years into the pandemic is also hurting many other businesses and industries, from education to health care to local government

RELATED: Oregon job market has more open positions than workers to fill them

Economists Josh Lehner and Gail Krumenauer, who both work for the state of Oregon, said 2021 ended with more than 100,000 job openings statewide. They said there are roughly seven unemployed people for every 10 job openings both in Oregon and across the country.

"The biggest constraint in the economy right now is labor. It is harder to find workers today than it was two, three years ago," said Lehner. 

Richmond said there are roughly 100 job openings at Papa Murphy's stores in the Portland area alone. She said some stores have had to reduce their hours because they don't have enough staff to work certain shifts.

Richmond believes Papa Murphy's is an option worth considering for young people looking for a job.

"We're a great first job for people," she said. "We don't have fryers, we don't have ovens, so it allows us to be able to hire anywhere from teens to people with a lot of experience to run those stores."

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