Peter Shokeir | [email protected]
A study analyzing the challenges of Jasper鈥檚 labour market was presented to municipal council during its committee of the whole meeting on Nov. 28.
Launched in the spring, the study serves to provide insight into the labour market and inform advocacy efforts to support local businesses, workers and job seekers.
鈥淰acancy rates eclipsed the national average in 2023,鈥� said Holly Johnson, senior associate with Ballad Group, which was contracted to undertake the study.
鈥淪hortages are pushing up wages and stretching workers beyond usual schedules and then younger workers in the area are not as equipped with skills required by employers, leading to external hirings or upskilling of existing employers, are some of the high-level findings we found in the report.鈥�
The study was led by the Jasper Employment and Education Centre in collaboration with Tourism Jasper, the Jasper Park Chamber of Commerce, the Town of Jasper, Parks Canada, the Government of Alberta and Community Futures West Yellowhead.
There were 111 completed surveys with business owners, 14 completed in-depth interviews with cross-industry business owners and eight completed in-depth interviews with representatives of organizations representing key project stakeholder groups.
There were also 346 completed surveys with labour market participants in Jasper and 415 completed surveys administered through Tourism Jasper鈥檚 newcomer orientation program.
In total, 28 per cent of municipality-listed businesses were engaged, and 31 per cent of Jasper鈥檚 labour market was engaged as measured using the census.
The nationwide shortage of labour has heavily affected the local labour market, according to the study, 鈥渆specially as the major sector of industry in Jasper is tourism, which is labour intensive and still recovering from the impacts of the pandemic.鈥�
Tourism employs 63 per cent of Jasper鈥檚 labour force, more than double the provincial average.
To sustain the GDP growth of 5.61 per cent forecasted to 2026, the local labour demand is forecasted to increase by an average rate of 2.61 per cent each year until 2026, which translates to a need for another 152 permanent workers over two years.
Accommodation and food services had a vacancy rate of 18.61 per cent, the highest of the tourism industries in Jasper.
Other vacancy rates include 11.76 per cent for transportation and warehousing, 11.65 per cent for retail trade and 10.38 per cent for arts, entertainment and recreation.
鈥淭here are compounding factors that impact the ability to attract employees unrelated to the types of jobs offered within the community, including housing, affordability, seasonality of work, and limited access to temporary foreign labour force,鈥� the study stated.
Six themes summarize Jasper鈥檚 labour challenges, and the study gave recommendations to address each of these areas.
Hiring and training, sourcing external labour, company culture and seasonality were all areas where collaboration between stakeholder organizations and the business community could provide solutions.
The study had numerous recommendations such as developing partnerships with post-secondary institutions, identifying training needs and advocating to the federal government to improve programs and processes for utilizing foreign labour.
However, it noted that larger combined efforts were required to address structural challenges such as housing and the cost of living.
Recommendations included commissioning a housing action plan, incentivizing secondary suites and centralizing an inventory and creating a sharing system of staff accommodations for all interested businesses.
Mayor Richard Ireland said the report was 鈥渆ngrossing鈥� and contained lots of useful information.鈥淚 was really impressed at the way the labour market study integrated housing elements and social equity elements.鈥�
Committee recommended council endorsed the Jasper Labour Market Study and directed administration to review the study to identify opportunities for the municipality to participate in its implementation and return to committee of the whole with recommendations.
