The US travel sector is facing another one Pre-pandemic problem that would have been unthinkable weeks ago: a labor shortage.
Delta canceled approximately 100 flights earlier this month due to a lack of pilots. It was the same time it opened center seats that had been blocked as a pandemic security measure. a month earlier than planned to enable a higher number of passengers. Uber reported last week that customer demand is returning faster than driver availability and plans to increase driver incentives to increase the workforce, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Hoteliers, especially in leisure markets like Cape Cod and the Hamptons, are predicting a summer with record crowds and staff shortages. Many of these operators rely on workers coming from outside the country with H-2B or J-1 visas, which became available in late March after a ban by the Trump administration was lifted. However, international travel restrictions and congestion at consulates are expected to prevent a normal rate of worker permits.
“There will definitely be a labor shortage,” said David Sherwyn, professor of hospitality and human resources and law at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration. “It’s certainly something to be concerned about this summer.”
The The demand for travel workers came back to life This is mainly due to the fact that vaccination rates in the US are accelerating faster than previously expected.
Nearly 121 million Americans received at least one dose of the vaccine Monday afternoon, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. US President Joe Biden’s goal of delivering 200 million doses in the first 100 days is above the original goal of 100 million doses.
This provides more confidence to get off the street or under friendly skies and creates a potentially overwhelming demand for vacation travel. In many states and in the CDC, business restrictions are lifting gave the green light earlier this month for fully vaccinated Americans to travel.
Hotel occupancy in the US has been close to 60 percent for a few weeks and has even increased in popular Sun Belt markets such as Miami, Tampa and San Diego. According to STR, the average hotel occupancy last week was nearly 68 percent in San Diego, 76 percent in Miami, and 84 percent in Tampa.
Almost 1.6 million passengers passed through a security checkpoint at the U.S. airport on Sunday, significantly fewer than the 2.4 million on the same day in 2019, but also exponentially higher than the nearly 91,000 in 2020, according to the U.S. Transportation Security Administration.
Strong numbers like this one are a top reason for employers across all travel sectors to suddenly recall employees who were on vacation earlier in the pandemic. Sometimes a big problem is that workers are no longer available.
Where the workers went
The travel industry’s labor shortage problem may seem strange, with organizations like the American Hotel & Lodging Association claiming the pandemic 10 years of job growth erased. Unemployment in hotels may have fallen from a high of almost 49 percent last April, but it is still close to 20 percent – well above the national average of 6 percent. Numbers like this do not exactly suggest that hotel owners would make an effort to find staff.
“Seasonal resorts consume a lot of overseas work,” said Sherwyn. “They used to put a lot of college students in, but internships have taken over waiting for tables and pools and the like.”
Many tour operator owners in vacation markets such as Cape Cod relied on the J-1 and H-2B visa programs for foreigners to help them work in restaurants or hotels during the summer. A quarter of the 20,000 seasonal workers to Cape Cod come from overseas on these visas. the Provincetown Independent reports.
The Trump administration’s program ban was lifted in late March, but there’s not much expectation for more workers this summer. Pandemic restrictions on international travel and the uncertainty of when this might clear mean another year without this crucial workforce.
Other factors include the extension of the US $ 300 weekly unemployment benefit that was included in the EU final round of coronavirus relief. Analysts see this move, which expires in early September, as one reason why some hospitality workers may stay away from jobs like driving for Uber or certain lower-wage restaurant jobs.
“There are unintended but understandable consequences, and this is one of them,” Sherwyn said.
Other labor shortages may have more to do with previous employees moving away from a market or leave the industry completely. Many hotel and restaurant owners temporarily suspended operations during the pandemic until demand was high enough to justify the cost of maintaining business. The workers sometimes did not wait for the reopening.
“Restaurant owners in capital cities where restaurants have been closed for a period of time found that long-term employees have left town and those owners have had to try to recruit,” said Leora Lanz, chair of the Boston Graduate Hospitality Program University.
Summer shortage or long term problem
The U.S. service industry, which includes hospitality workers, grew the fastest in March, according to the Institute for Supply Management. 40,000 jobs were created in the hotel industry alone. 176,000 jobs have been created in restaurants and bars, but there are signs that summer may not be enough.
Restaurants in South Florida are full and the owners are desperately looking for more staff in markets like Key West, where the demand for travel has risen sharply over the past year even without traffic from cruise ships.
It is not entirely clear if this is a labor shortage issue that will be resolved by Labor Day.
“A significant amount of this underemployment in certain areas of the hospitality and leisure sectors will improve if or when unemployment benefits cease,” said Evan Weiss, chief operating officer, LW Hospitality Advisors.
But there are other factors that could permanently drive more workers out of the travel sector. The next big item in the Biden administration, a $ 2 trillion infrastructure plan, is expected to be a major job creator. That could be a headache for tour operators trying to get workers back, as construction jobs pay a lot more than hospitality jobs, Sherwyn said.
“Many of these workers are transferable. The skills are transferable, ”he added. “If you want to maximize the money, it could lead to a price war.”
In the meantime, the labor shortage could be a benefit to hospitality students who were months ago I wonder if a job would be waiting for me at all for them on the other side of the degree.
“Personally, I hope this is an opportunity for our hospitality students to take on some of these roles because the help is needed,” said Lanz. “Think about how it went: We didn’t have enough talent before the pandemic, we had an oversupply of talent, but not enough occupancy. Now we’re back because we don’t have enough talent. We need people. “
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