Alberta hospitality sector says staffing levels have improved — but gaps remain

As hospitality businesses in Alberta prepare for another summer tourism rush, the Alberta Hospitality Association (AHA) said fewer hotels and restaurants are short-staffed or struggling to recruit workers compared to previous years.

The sector dealt with labour shortages for several years coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the AHA, but the outlook for the industry's labour market has improved.

"We've been hearing some pretty positive news," said AHA president Ernie Tsu. "We're seeing a lot of folks, secondary students returning back to the industry. Staffing has actually been fairly decent."

Tsu credits the high pay offered at some accommodation and food service jobs for attracting workers back to the sector, which grew by 8,500 jobs from April 2024 to April 2025, according to StatsCan data.

Job growth in the hospitality sector has come as some young workers in Alberta have struggled to find work elsewhere. The province's youth unemployment rate reached 17.2 per cent in April, up 0.9 per cent from the same time last year. 

But even though more workers are employed in Alberta's hospitality sector compared to a year ago, there are still 11,000 unfilled restaurant positions around the province, according to Restaurants Canada.

"We certainly still have big job vacancies, especially in the rural areas of the province," said Mark von Schellwitz, the organization's vice-president for Western Canada.

"There are just not as many youth entering the workforce anymore, which is forcing our industry to become more creative, and try and attract people who are, say, retiring."

Restaurant operator burnout is a concern around the country, von Schellwitz added.

"They're trying to … cover off a lot of this extra work themselves in the absence of having adequate staffing levels," he said.

Tsu said he's hearing good things about staffing levels in Calgary but shortages are still a concern in the Bow Valley.

There are more hospitality jobs available in Canmore than there are applicants, according to the Downtown Canmore Business Improvement Area (BIA).

"Many of the businesses are starting to see more resumes," said Gradey McMahon, the BIA's executive director, adding they're only seeing "100 resumes for 200 jobs."

"The majority of the businesses go through it," he said. "It takes a lot of people to keep a restaurant on the go. So it's tough to go from winter slow to summer busy."