ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Businesses are looking to hire in the Rochester area. Many, however, are discovering applicants are few and far between, as Ferah Roman, director of staffing services for the Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce, explained to News 8.

“It’s a struggle from entry-level through executive placement right now,” said Roman.

Roman notes several industries, including restaurants, manufacturing and healthcare, are having trouble hiring.

Beginning Monday, the state-imposed curfew for restaurants and bars is being pushed back to midnight from 11 p.m., expanding their business hours.

As Janine Caschette, owner of Avvino Restaurant in Brighton, described in an interview with News 8, the extra hour helps, but the difficulty hiring acts as a restriction.

“As they open things up and go to 75 percent capacity and more hours, we can’t find staff,” said Caschette. “So we are still kind of stuck in this limited capacity.”

“We’re having major staffing issues,” said Caschette, “and that’s across the board from every restaurant I’ve talked to.”

Roman said there could be a whole host of reasons folks aren’t applying in high volume – potential early retirement, making similar money staying on unemployment benefits, and having to figure out daycare with remote school still partially in session.

“It’s like the perfect storm right now,” said Roman. “There’s no one variable reason that really is resulting in the challenge, the significant challenges.”

Roman added employers are actively trying to attract more candidates – offering higher wages and better benefits.