Addressing labour issues will be a critical part of recovery as an industry moving forward. TIAC was encouraged to see some labour specific supports outlined in the federal budget such as;

• The Canada Recovery Hiring Program
• Supporting Skills for Success
• Community Workforce Development Program
• Student Work Placement Program
• Canada Summer Jobs funding
• Canada Workers Benefit

TIAC is working closely with Tourism HR Canada to develop strategies and solutions to best resolve the labour challenges. Read more on the above mentioned supports here: https://bit.ly/3aMJ0ss

Earlier this month, Tourism HR Canada released research detailing the latest stats on the Tourism Labour Force.

Key Highlights:

• Tourism Employment increased for the second month, increasing by 50,800 following February’s increase of 88,900
• March and February employment numbers were affected by the ongoing easing of restrictions in a number of provinces. With several provinces putting restrictions back in place a sustained and ongoing increase in national employment levels is unlikely to be seen until May.
• The tourism unemployment rate dropped from 15.5% to 13.0%
• On average, throughout the pandemic, Tourism’s unemployment rate is nearly double of the overall economy.
• Many tourism workers are not going to return to jobs once they are restored, causing some of the greatest labour shortages ever seen and hampering recovery. COVID has heightened and accelerated systemic issues and barriers to employment in this sector.
• The economic and social implications of an unequal and slow recovery will impact tourism disproportionately (with more persistent underemployment of vulnerable workers).
• Urgent and much more targeted advocacy is needed to help the sector address workforce issues.

TIAC and Tourism HR Canada will be actively analyzing the outlined proposed budget supports over the coming days and weeks.

For more information on Tourism HR Canada’s labour trends, check out the Employment Tracker tool here.