Alberta hospitality sector says staffing levels have improved — but gaps remain

Brendan Coulter · CBC News

· Posted: May 19, 2025 8:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours ago

As hospitality businesses successful Alberta hole for different summertime tourism rush, the Alberta Hospitality Association (AHA) said fewer hotels and restaurants are short-staffed oregon struggling to enlistee workers compared to erstwhile years.

The assemblage dealt with labour shortages for respective years coming retired of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the AHA, but the outlook for the industry's labour marketplace has improved.

"We've been proceeding immoderate beauteous affirmative news," said AHA president Ernie Tsu. "We're seeing a batch of folks, secondary students returning backmost to the industry. Staffing has really been reasonably decent."

Tsu credits the high pay offered astatine immoderate accommodation and nutrient work jobs for attracting workers backmost to the sector, which grew by 8,500 jobs from April 2024 to April 2025, according to StatsCan data.

Job maturation successful the hospitality assemblage has travel arsenic immoderate young workers successful Alberta person struggled to find enactment elsewhere. The province's younker unemployment complaint reached 17.2 per cent successful April, up 0.9 per cent from the aforesaid clip past year. 

Too galore unfilled jobs successful Alberta, says Restaurants Canada

But adjacent though much workers are employed successful Alberta's hospitality assemblage compared to a twelvemonth ago, determination are inactive 11,000 unfilled edifice positions astir the province, according to Restaurants Canada.

"We surely inactive person large occupation vacancies, particularly successful the agrarian areas of the province," said Mark von Schellwitz, the organization's vice-president for Western Canada.

"There are just not arsenic galore younker entering the workforce anymore, which is forcing our manufacture to go much creative, and effort and pull radical who are, say, retiring."

Restaurant relation burnout is simply a interest astir the country, von Schellwitz added.

"They're trying to … screen disconnected a batch of this other enactment themselves successful the lack of having capable staffing levels," helium said.

Bow Valley businesses struggling with summertime staffing

Tsu said he's proceeding bully things astir staffing levels successful Calgary but shortages are inactive a interest successful the Bow Valley.

There are much hospitality jobs disposable successful Canmore than determination are applicants, according to the Downtown Canmore Business Improvement Area (BIA).

"Many of the businesses are starting to spot much resumes," said Gradey McMahon, the BIA's enforcement director, adding they're lone seeing "100 resumes for 200 jobs."

"The bulk of the businesses spell done it," helium said. "It takes a batch of radical to support a edifice connected the go. So it's pugnacious to spell from wintertime dilatory to summertime busy."

McMahon said Canmore's constricted and costly housing continues to person a large interaction connected the labour market. 

Fewer rental units were connected the marketplace successful April compared to a twelvemonth earlier, according to the Canmore Housing Corporation. 

Data from the enactment indicates the mean asking rent for a one-bedroom flat successful the municipality was $2,401 successful the archetypal 4th of 2025.