Yellowknife (July 23/03) - More people are working in the NWT, but the hospitality industry continues to have problems getting qualified employees.

Carly Chasse has been working as a front desk agent at the Yellowknife Inn for a month, and has three years experience in the hospitality industry. She says that one of the most enjoyable aspects of working in this industry is that you get to know people from very different countries. - Natalia Gallego/NNSL photo

Last month, there were 20,800 people employed in the NWT -- 200 more than the previous month. In percentage terms, this means an overall NWT employment rate of 70 per cent is second-best in the country.

The number of unemployed people increased by 100 compared to May, representing a rate of eight per cent for the NWT versus an overall unemployment rate of 7.2 per cent nationally.

The hospitality industry, however, is being affected by a shortage of staff.

This issue has concerned business owners for a while now and, far from improving, it just seems to be getting worse. Last year we witnessed the closing of businesses such as the Dairy Queen, and this year many others are struggling to find qualified workers to fill their vacancies.

Rene Raqui, general manager at the Yellowknife Inn, has being unsuccessfully looking for a maintenance manager for the last few weeks. He says that most qualified workers go to work to the mines because salaries are better, but so are revenues, and they cannot compete with that. In its search for long-term employees, the Yellowknife Inn usually posts ads in local and national newspapers and contacts the employment office.

"It is always better than having to train new people every day", says Raqui. "When they work here for a while they get to know our clients and business better, which is always good for the company."

Le Frolic's owner, Pierre LePage, knows exactly what he's talking about. Over the last 10 days, three of his employees quit to go to work at camp, leaving without notice.

"Over the last three years, we have increased our employees' wages, but you have to set a limit at some point or you'll start losing money.

"On top of that, mines want their new workers at the site right away, which means that local businesses may suffer a significant shortage of employees from one day to the next."

LePage's efforts to find qualified cooks and servers in Yellowknife have not worked as expected. He has expanded his recruiting tools to other provinces such as Alberta and Quebec, and even overseas.

"It would be really helpful if the government eased all the process and the heavy paper work involved in sponsoring foreign workers. Students nowadays are more interested in high-tech careers than trade professions.

"How are we going to replace all the retiring people?" LePage said, this is the worst it's ever been to find workers in the past four years.