Katie Graves managed to hire a housekeeper at a job fair organized to bring together workers with tourism jobs in San Antonio. This left the La Cantera Resort & Spa with a shortage of staff for 71 positions.
“There aren’t a lot of people here,” Graves said of the applicants at the recruitment event last week.
Four dozen hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions and theaters set up stalls on the Alamodome’s ground floor Wednesday in hopes of filling hundreds of vacancies. However, only about 200 job seekers came to the four-hour fair, according to Visit San Antonio, the public-private tourism organization that markets tourism in the city.
That would correspond to around four applicants per employer – if the number of applicants were evenly distributed among the exhibitors.
The event provided an example of a challenge San Antonio faces as spring turns into summer, the pandemic subsides, and leisure travel recovers. Tourists return in large numbers, especially on weekends when they flock to the city and hotels have sold out rooms. But without enough workers, the tourism industry tries hard to serve the city’s guests.
The reasons are diverse but include low wages, personal safety concerns, a lack of childcare, and the fact that many long-time industry employees moved on after being laid off during the pandemic.
Using the candidate-employer ratio, Zachry Hospitality, which owns the Hilton Palacio del Rio and the Staybridge Suites Downtown, received more than enough exposure. By the end of the job fair at 2 p.m. there were 10 or 12 visitors at the stand
But Zachry had 46 vacancies for his two downtown hotels: Accountant, Barista, Food Runner, Valet Driver, Food Server, and Housekeeping and Reception, to name a few.
“We have a little bit of everything,” says Liz Miera, Employment Manager at the Hilton Palacio del Rio, about the vacancies.
The payment was enough. Server jobs were available for $ 5.50 an hour plus tips, while housekeepers could make $ 15 an hour.
Miera remained optimistic despite the small amount of booty. She had made an offer to an applicant who was interested in one of the valet positions and was waiting for an answer. She also had several follow-up interviews planned for other positions.
“When we get a person. I think it’s a great thing, ”she said, reflecting the shortage of workers willing to take jobs in the tourism industry.
Unemployment benefit ends
The job fair took place the same week that the additional and extended federal unemployment benefits in Texas ended. Governor Greg Abbott cut federal benefits more than two months early as he insisted on driving shortages in tourism, retail and other industries.
There is no weekly federal unemployment insurance allowance of $ 300 or the extension of the unemployment reporting deadline for those who have exhausted 26 weeks of regular benefits.
Unemployment benefits for gig workers and those who own their own businesses also disappeared.
According to Abbott’s logic, the job fair should have attracted many applicants. However, economists and labor analysts say a variety of factors contribute to persistent job retention in tourism – but not one thing.
“COVID is definitely one of them,” says Todd Vachon, postdoc in the Department of Labor Studies and Employment Relations at Rutgers University. “Those were badly paid jobs at first, then you will be exposing yourself to billions of strangers every week, including those who may not have been vaccinated.”
Some of the jobs offered last week were paid just above the Texas minimum wage of $ 7.25 an hour, although positions with wages between $ 10 and $ 12 an hour were more typical. Even so, some job seekers wondered how they would make ends meet.
“There were more badly paid jobs than I expected,” says Jason Huerta, who was looking for work at the fair. “I’m looking for $ 14 to $ 16 an hour.”
He said he worked for a Toyota parts supplier but was laid off in December. His former employer withdrew after the vehicle manufacturer’s supplier changed for his new Tundra truck, which is being built in San Antonio.
Now he’s ready to take any position that pays decently. Huerta planned to apply online to two of the job fair’s exhibitors later: the San Antonio Zoo and the San Antonio International Airport.
Airport jobs
The city airport offered one of the highest starting wages at the fair.
All 70 vacancies paid at least $ 15 an hour plus health benefits and a retirement plan. A San Antonio city hiring officer told applicants that $ 15 an hour is the minimum for any job in the city, including those at San Antonio International.
The positions available ranged from customer service employees who lead airport customers to ticket counters and flights to airport parking clerks.
Only a few meters from the stand of the city’s aviation ministry, however, the difference in wages between the jobs at the airport became clear.
Prospect Airport Services, a private company that employs baggage handlers for the airport, was offering $ 8.81 an hour. It also employs passenger services staff who can transport passengers in wheelchairs for $ 7.53 per hour plus optional tip.
Several people inquired about Prospect’s jobs about the loyalty program – $ 1,250 after 90 days of work and another $ 1,250 after 180 days, said Cesar Jimenez, the company’s general manager at San Antonio International.
He said 10-15 jobs were vacant because Prospect lost employees to other companies that pay more. But he noted that even before the pandemic, “we always had openings”.
The company that cleans the city’s Alamodome for the job fair also hired. Selrico Services had 20 caretaker jobs on Wednesday, but only a few customers.
The company has only 12 caretakers left, and even temporary employment agencies have not been able to fill the positions, said Leslie Rodriguez, the company’s human resources officer.
Rodriguez admitted that the $ 10-10.50 hourly wage for cleaning jobs could be an obstacle to recruiting workers.
“I really think we need to raise our salaries,” she said. Rodriguez said she discussed the issue with the company’s owner, but no action was taken.
Hope after pandemic
For some employers, the job fair wasn’t just about hiring; there was hope that the COVID-19 pandemic would continue to decline and that their businesses could flourish again.
Live Nation, which hosts concerts, plays, and other shows at the downtown Aztec Theater, resumed events at the legendary entertainment center in April after closing for more than a year.
The Aztec cashier who works for Live Nation was delighted.
“We sold out our first rock and roll concert last week,” said Krystal Mystic. Now she is looking for a few part-time workers for her team.
Live Nation had 30 open part-time positions for cashiers, ushers and security guards. She said the 25-hour-a-week positions start at $ 10 an hour but can go as high as $ 15 an hour.
Live Nation didn’t hire anyone at the job fair; It encouraged those who passed by their booth to apply online.
“If we get a few superstars it will be worth it,” she said of the effort.
Not all positions at the job fair were badly paid.
Increase in wages
Graves of La Cantera Resort & Spa said the complex has an open cooking stove that pays around $ 60,000 a year. The Witte Museum was also at the job fair and invited applicants to apply as Vice President for Development.
Al Powers, the museum’s human resources manager, said salary would depend on experience but declined to provide details.
Some employers have raised wages in response to labor shortages.
Graves said salaries for household positions rose from $ 10 an hour to $ 14 in recent months in an effort to attract more workers. The hotel also offers a sign-up bonus of $ 750.
She attributed the labor shortage to employees who left the hospitality industry during the COVID-19 pandemic when La Cantera and other lodging establishments closed to stop the virus from spreading. Well, some of them are not sure if they will be back.
“A lot of people found working in a hotel unstable and unsafe,” said Graves.
Until recruitment resumes, hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions are struggling to provide full service with no manpower required.
Industry migration
A senior economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas agreed that some workers have left the tourism industry for good to find higher-paying jobs in other sectors. Economist Keith Phillips also said a lack of childcare for parents whose children have been distance learning or whose children are not going to camp contributes to tourism labor shortages.
“A lot of summer camps didn’t take place this year,” he said.
At the end of May, labor data compiled by the Fed showed 120,397 jobs in the tourism industry in the greater San Antonio area. That was 13.3 percent less than before the pandemic in February 2020.
The industry began hiring in May 2020 after hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions reopened after the closings caused by the pandemic. In May of this year, jobs rose by 27 percent compared to the same month last year.
Phillips said a full recovery to pre-pandemic employment levels could occur in 2022, provided that business travel, including conventions and meetings, can re-attract and workers can be found to fill the industry. So far, leisure traffic has led the way in the upswing.
In addition to sponsoring the event on Wednesday, Visit San Antonio participated in the job fair and announced two positions for representatives at the downtown visitor center advertising
The 54-employee organization still has 30 fewer employees than before the pandemic due to budget cuts forced by a drop in hotel tax revenue, which the organization primarily funds. The sharp surge in tourist numbers in recent months made it possible to bring the two jobs back, said Richard Oliver, director of partner and community relations for the organization.
The jobs pay $ 13 an hour.
Oliver said the number of daily visitors to the information center rose from a low of 300 in March to an average of more than 800 per day in recent weeks. That means more agents are needed to promote San Antonio.
“Things heated up and they heated up quickly,” he said.
randy.diamond@express-news.net
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