If you’re planning a vacation to the Jersey Shore; Ocean City, Maryland; even the Poconos, I suggest that among other necessities, you packed your patience. It’s likely you will need it.

I have contacted representatives of these favored locations, and the number one concern is getting enough employees to staff the restaurants, hotels, beaches, attractions and other facilities that lure vacationgoers.

The economy came to a screeching halt in 2020, then exploded almost overnight this past spring and continues to intensify weekly as people yearn for a return to some semblance of normalcy.

Most resort communities are scrambling to fill thousands of unfilled positions, and the need is now as the summer season moves into high gear.

Ocean City, Maryland, which hosts thousands of Times News area residents each summer, is expecting one of its busiest ever now that most COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted. This includes the lifting of the mask order on the community’s famed boardwalk.

Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan echoed the sentiments of officials up and down the Atlantic Coast communities from Ocean City to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, to Wildwood and Cape May, New Jersey, and points north: This is going to be a very, very busy summer because so many people who had experienced pandemic-fatigue are itching to travel as a family again.

Of course, there was great disappointment with the crummy Memorial Day weekend weather, with the exception of Memorial Day itself, but this week is shaping up as ideal beach weather even though the water temperature is still a bit on the chilly side.

Amid all of the giddy expectations from shop owners, restaurant operators and attraction entrepreneurs, there is the dark cloud of significant staffing shortages hanging over the anticipated party.

Resort area employers cite two major reasons why there is perhaps the most dramatic shortage of seasonal and other employees in more than a generation: A generous combination of state and federal unemployment benefits which will not run out until the end of the summer and major delays in the J-1 visa program, which permits foreign students to come to the United States to work and study.

For example, on average, nearly 6,000 of these students have been coming to Ocean City each summer, many of them from Eastern Europe and Central America.

According to Nicole Hollywood, a professor of business at the University of Maryland, many of the temporary, low-wage positions have been filled by these workers for more than two decades, but with COVID-related travel restrictions and delays in getting visas processed, the number of these students has dropped dramatically.

In 2020, almost none of these students were allowed to travel to the United States because of extreme COVID-19 restrictions; this year, there will be an estimated 1,000 working in the Ocean City area, fewer than 20% of the normal complement. At the famous Morey’s Pier in Wildwood, the owner would typically rely on about 500 of its 1,500 summer workers to come from the foreign work program. This year, just 18 students have been signed up as of June 1, with another 60 expected throughout the summer. Those numbers are unsustainable to operate normally, according to Denise Beckson, Morey’s vice president for human resources.

Other New Jersey shore communities, including Cape May and Ocean City, also rely on this foreign help, so their employee ranks will be drastically curtailed as well.

A friend who runs a seasonal business on the Wildwood boardwalk says that the “help wanted” shingle is out, and he expects it will be for the entire summer. “If you want to work, and you have a pulse, chances are you are just about guaranteed a job at the shore,” he said.

The situation in the Poconos is similar. In a region where 25% of all jobs are related to the hospitality industry, the “help wanted” sign is up at nearly every restaurant, hotel and attraction.

Employers are offering higher wages, sign-on bonuses and other inducements hoping to attract enough employees to allow full operation for the crucial summer months in which most of these businesses make the lion’s share of annual profits.

What these staffing shortages mean for you and your family if you go to these popular shore or mountain destinations is long lines, possibly shorter hours of operation and perhaps a modification on the capacity of restaurants, hotels and attractions if there are not enough employees to staff them properly.

Therefore, patience will be a virtue.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.