“Of course the hotels were very short staffed because of the lack of capacity,” said Sol Zia, executive director of the Calgary Hotel Association. But when travel resumed and layoffs ended, Zia says much of that staff didn’t return. The association worked closely with the national organization Tourism HR Canada to analyze where workers went. Zia says their analysis found that about a third of staff who did not return to industry found jobs in health care and long-term care support. Another third of these staff completed a complete industry change and found jobs in financial services and technology. As for the final third, Zia says it is unknown why they did not return to the hospitality industry. “When you look at the percentage of the workforce that didn’t come back, the one-third is a complete mystery to us right now.” Now, the hospitality industry is struggling to find workers. Zia says there are about 700 vacancies that have remained unfilled since late spring. It’s a common story among many sectors across Canada, including here in Alberta — workers who have migrated between sectors during the pandemic, from jobs in the hospitality industry, to potentially more lucrative and stable positions in fields like technology and the retail trade. It is causing staff shortages in sectors left behind by workers as they struggle to offer better compensation to attract workers due to inflation and rising input costs.
Labor shortages for most of Alberta’s hospitality industry
About 80 per cent of Alberta’s hospitality industry is experiencing staff shortages, according to Ernie Chu, president of the Alberta Hospitality Association. Of the entire province, Tsu says Fort McMurray and the Bow Valley region currently need the most staff. With restaurants constantly opening and closing due to the COVID-19 restrictions, Tsu says restaurants were unable to provide staff with stable and consistent hours, so many of them left. Ernie Chu, president of the Alberta Hospitality Association, says about 80 per cent of the hospitality industry is experiencing worker shortages. (Dave Gilson/CBC) “We actually saw a number of our staff, our chefs, leave our industry for other industries that would provide much more stability.”
Agriculture, manufacturing and business are seeing job cuts
Charles St-Arnaud, Alberta Central’s chief economist, says that because of the pandemic, many workers have started looking for more stable jobs with better conditions. Of all the industries, he says the hospitality industry was probably hardest hit by those workers who migrated to other sectors. However, he says he sees similar situations in other industries. The agricultural sector, for one, has seen a reduction in workers. That’s partly because employment in the sector hasn’t performed well in the past two and a half years, St-Arnaud says. Alberta’s hospitality sector’s pandemic recovery has lagged behind other industries. (Charles St-Arnaud/Alberta Central) “We’ve seen the workforce in this area shrink, but we’ve also seen employment in this sector remain weaker than it was before the pandemic.” The same is true for the manufacturing sector, which is seeing employment remain below pre-pandemic levels. However, St-Arnaud says some of these workers may experience permanent job loss, unlike workers who leave in other sectors. Another sector that has seen a slight decline in the workforce is business, construction and other services, he says. According to a statement from the Alberta government’s office of the minister of labor and immigration, the main sectors facing labor shortages are construction, transportation and warehousing, and accommodation and food services.
Retail, science and engineering jobs see gains
Most of the job gains over the past two years have been in wholesale and retail trade, St-Arnaud says. Professional, scientific and technical jobs — a broad category that can go from lawyers to engineers to lab technicians and more — have also seen steady job gains since the start of the pandemic. Charles St-Arnaud, Alberta Central’s chief economist, says some sectors will take longer to recover from the pandemic than others — especially the food service industry. (Submitted by Charles St-Arnaud) St-Arnaud says some sectors that can offer better conditions, such as higher wages, benefits and fixed hours, can poach workers from other industries. “They have to attract workers to offer better conditions and there is a shortage in another sector,” he said. But it will take longer for areas with no profit margin, especially with rising input costs. “Especially in food, for example… It might be a little more difficult for them to offer better conditions to workers and attract more workers and solve the labor shortage.”
Lack of immigration plays a role, economist says
Canada’s lack of immigration due to the pandemic plays a big role in why so many sectors are experiencing labor shortages, says St-Arnaud. With weak immigration due to the pandemic, Canada lost 300,000 potential foreign workers who would have joined the workforce. And while Alberta has seen positive net interprovincial migration in the past quarter, it’s not making up for the people who left Alberta in the early stages of the pandemic. “Alberta actually lost workers to other provinces. That also created some of that reduction in the number of available workers.” St-Arnaud says creating more balance between sectors is no easy task and requires long-term strategies. “In some ways, more immigration to increase the pool of available workers will help.” For the hotel industry, Zia says getting more workers back will require government support. This includes potential changes to the temporary foreign worker program updates to regulations and the creation of new government programs to attract workers. The Alberta government’s office of the Minister of Labor and Immigration says it has taken several steps to help minimize current and future labor shortages, including Alberta at work program. She also says the Alis website, which provides information and resources on education and career planning, works to help Albertans succeed in their careers. “Since the start of the pandemic, we have seen usage of the site grow steadily with 4.6 million visits in the last 12 months. The last time alis had this many visits was in 2013 when it received 4.8 million visits.”
