ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Lambert International Airport is offering $1,500 bonuses for more than half of the 100 vacant jobs it is struggling to fill.
Sixty-three of the open positions are eligible for the hiring bonus, which is paid out after a new employee passes his or her working test period. In addition, employees at the city-owned airport can receive a $500 bonus if they refer someone who fills one of those jobs.
Airfield maintenance worker is one of the 11 job classifications eligible for the bonus. These employees maintain and repair airport runways, ramps, taxiways and grounds. Other eligible positions include airfield painters, police officers, programmers in the information technology division and utility workers. More information is available on the "Work for the City" web page.
“Those areas are very competitive in the marketplace,” said Lambert Director Rhonda Hamm-Niebrugge. “I think we’re pretty standard of what most businesses are facing these days. I don’t think we stand out as anything unusual.”
The airport has experienced a higher than normal attrition rate, starting about two years ago as the city considered privatization. That loss of workers accelerated with the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020 and included several retirements, Hamm-Niebrugge said.
Lambert has not furloughed any employees during the pandemic, Hamm-Niebrugge said. However, one airline and several retailers that serve Lambert did announce furloughs and layoffs over the past year.
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