The restaurant industry is facing a severe worker shortage amid a low unemployment rate, fewer young people in the workforce and competition from gig-economy employers. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Restaurants hungry for workers say they'll keep hiring even though a government system to help them weed out undocumented employees is, ironically, not working because of the government shutdown over immigration.

E-Verify, a web-based Department of Homeland Security program to confirm recently hired employees are authorized to work in the U.S., is one of the government services that's not running amid the standoff between President Donald Trump and Congress. Companies trying to use it are met with a red banner: “Due to the lapse in federal funding, this website will not be actively managed.”

Recommended For You

Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.

Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor