Fuchsia Dragon | [email protected]
Insights into Jasper鈥檚 summer job market have been revealed by Jasper Employment and Education Centre.
Last summer, from April 1 to September 30, the centre processed 1,082 job orders for a total of 2,674 positions - a slight decrease from 2018.
According to the labour review, positions in highest demand were in the kitchen (chefs, cooks and dishwashers), food services (servers, baristas, food counter attendants, bartenders) and light cleaners (housekeepers, housemen, campground cleaners).
But the centre saw a trend of chefs and cooks leaving the industry due to staff shortages, resulting in high stress and burnout.
Many jobs were reposted several times last summer due to the high turnover of staff and on average there were about 500 jobs open throughout the summer.
鈥淲e did see a lot of job hopping over the summer,鈥� the fall 2019 labour market review said.
鈥淯nhappy employees left their current employment to find better working conditions when needed.鈥�
Staff housing makes the difference
Jasper鈥檚 retail sector posted 213 jobs over the summer, many of which went unfilled for extended periods.
According to JEEC鈥檚 report, difficulty filling those positions was mostly due to many retailers not having staff housing for employees.
In Jasper, almost 73 per cent of jobs posted between April 1 and September 30 came with employee housing and some seasonal employers offered reimbursement of accommodation costs if employees finished the season.
JEEC said these employers had great success keeping staff for the duration of their season.
And, generally, employers with staff housing had a much easier time finding staff.
