Growing job vacancies in tourism & hospitality

Growing job vacancies in tourism & hospitality

New job vacancy data illustrates the difficulties tourism and hospitality businesses are facing to find good staff, Tourism Industry Aotearoa says.

The latest Jobs Online report issued today by the Ministry of Business, Information and Employment shows the biggest increase in job vacancies in May was in hospitality and tourism. The report, which measures changes in online job advertisements, shows vacancies in hospitality and tourism were up 1.6% compared with April, despite it being a traditionally quiet time of the year for the visitor industry.

For the past year, the number of tourism and hospitality jobs advertised online has increased by 15.8%, one of the biggest increases of all industries measured.

TIA Chief Executive Chris Roberts says the detailed data shows some roles are particularly hard to fill.

This includes skilled jobs like chefs (advertisements up 18% for the May 2017 quarter, compared to the May 2016 quarter), hotel and motel managers (up 11%), and bus and coach drivers (up 64%).

There are also significantly more advertised vacancies for lower-skilled roles like housekeepers (up 61%), cooks (up 40%), bar attendants and baristas (up 18%) and kitchenhands (up 20%).

“With the Government and other political parties all looking to tighten immigration settings to some degree, there needs to be an acknowledgement that it is getting harder to find New Zealanders to fill many of the roles that keep the visitor economy going,” Mr Roberts says.

“These statistics bear out what we are hearing from TIA members – that they are facing real challenges in finding New Zealand residents to work in tourism and hospitality. At a time when the tourism industry is continuing to grow its contribution to New Zealand’s economy, we need to be able to hire the people we need to ensure our visitors enjoy the best possible experience.”

Read TIA’s submission to MBIE on the suite of proposed changes to the Essential Skills Visa.

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