Labor shortages end when wages rise, say some local businesses By Michael E. Kanell, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published: May 30, 2021, 6:00am Share: ATLANTA — As his six restaurants started ramping up for a post-pandemic world, Brian Will was struggling to find employees, so he went with the classic economics response for hard-to-find things. He paid more. Will raised wages for jobs like dishwasher and hostess from $8 or $10 an hour to $15. And he bumped up pay for those on his staff already at that level. “We started to get a better quality of applicants,” he said. “And the employees we already had, the ones that we gave raises to, they stepped up their game.”