According to WTTC’s data, 1 in every 18 jobs remained empty in 2021. That highlighted a talent crunch that has plagued the sector since early 2021. An estimated 321,000 Travel & Tourism positions went unfilled in the January – June 2022 timeframe (a 5.4% shortage). The worker shortages are likely to persist. It will peak at 412,000 sector job vacancies. Which is a 7% downfall from last year.
Employment has dropped by 35.9% in the U.S in 2020. in 2021 the U.S. saw a 12.4% hike in the number of jobs directly related to the travel and tourism sector. It is estimated about 480000 jobs are back.
Finding suitable candidates might be difficult as labour and skill shortages have been extremely prevalent in the last two years.
Julia Simpson, WTTC President and CEO stated that there is a lack of skilled labours all over the industry which might drive the entire industry to collapse soon. She alerted that to prevent this urgent hiring of skilled employees is necessary.
A couple of measures taken
WTTC stated that the outlook can turn positive later this year or up to 2023 if government officials and the public sector work together to fill the gaps of unskilled labour.
The United States Census Bureau data indicates that between 2016 and 2020, international migration to the U.S. shrank from around 1.05 million people to just 477,000.
Thus a couple of key measures identified by WTTC for both government and public sectors are
• Facilitate labour mobility across international borders, with more favourable visa policies
• Enable flexible and remote working where feasible – allowing part-time or contractor-based opportunities, where possible
• Ensure decent work and competitive employee benefits and compensation packages
• Attract talent by improving the perception of jobs and promoting viable career paths with growth opportunities
• Develop and support a skilled workforce through comprehensive educational programs, as well as upskilling and reskilling current talent
• Adopt innovative technological and digital solutions to alleviate pressure on staff, improve daily operations and an enhance customer experience
These will help the sector to alleviate the chance of getting success and recover the travel and tourism industry as early as possible.
Tags: Tourism, travel jobs, Travel news, WTTC
