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Act now — the labour gap is coming back
February 04 2010
Posted by:
mquail
From Jan 2010 edition of Canadian Lodging News
MONTREAL—The revenue potential for businesses serving tourists, including those in the food and beverage and accommodation sectors, is going to keep growing over the next 15 years.
However, the gap between labour supply and demand is also going to grow to the point where the shortage of workers will be a serious impediment, holding back billions of dollars in potential revenue.
There are things that can be done to alleviate the future labour crunch but the parties involved must start now.
This is the message that came out from the Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council’s annual Tourism HR Forum, held in November at the Delta Centre-Ville hotel in Montreal.
The conference attracted 250 registrants connected to the industry, including hotel and restaurant executives, academics, consultants and union executives.
While the recession in 2009 may have alleviated the labour shortage that had been a major headache for restaurants, hotels and other businesses, the pressure will return in the next couple of years as the economy recovers, delegates were told.
“This is still a tsunami that is building out in the ocean,” said Randy Williams, president and CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada. He added that the “tidal wave” will hit in the next two or three years.
Economist Jim Frank, a former vice-president with the Conference Board of Canada, said structural changes would have to be made gradually each year.
He referred to two studies done by the CTHRC and the Conference Board in the past couple of years that look at the long-term prospects for the Canadian tourism industry and the coming labour shortages, referring to them as “path breaking” and “very detailed.”
The studies, which cover the period 2006 to 2025, show what could be lost if the necessary changes aren’t made, he said.
They give historical data and forecasts for 37 different occupations in the tourism sector, looking at labour supply and demand nationally, by province and in 16 metropolitan areas.
They are called The Future of Canada’s Tourism Sector: Long on Prospects, Short on People, and The Future of Canada’s Tourism Sector: Labour Shortages to Re-emerge as Economy Recovers. A third update is scheduled to be completed at the end of March, 2010.
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