Fast Facts

Who's Working For You? A Demographic Profile of Tourism Sector Employees (2006)

The tourism labour force is significantly younger than the Canadian Labour forces as a whole. In fact, in the tourism sector, one-third of workers were 15-24 years old, compared to 15.0% in the Canadian Labour Force.
The tourism sector labour force was 52% women and 48% men. This is compared to the overall Canadian labour force which was 47% women and 53% men.
The accommodations industry group employed almost three-quarters of its labour force on a full-time basis. Comparatively, 51.1% of the food and beverages services labour force worked full-time.
In the Canadian labour force there has been a decrease of 2 percentage points since the 1996 Census of the people who speak English or French as their mother tongue, tourism only saw a 1 percent decrease.
Aboriginal peoples made up 4.7% of the Accommodations industry workforce, compared to 3.2% of the tourism sector's workforce and 2.8% of the entire Canadian labour force.
Overall, the Canadian labour force and the tourism sector have a similar proportion of people born in Canada and those born outside of Canada.
Forty-two percent of the total tourism labour force has at least some post-secondary education compared to 60% of the Canadian labour force.
It is interesting to note that 28.4% of the total tourism labour force attends school full-time, compared to 16.7% of the Canadian labour force.
The percentage of union member employees in the tourism sector is 11.5%, compared to 25% in the Canadian labour force.

Human Resource Module of the Tourism Satellite Account (2010)

In 2010, the tourism sector accounted for 1.6 million jobs; 9.2% of all jobs in Canada. Tourism industries were tied with Manufacturing in 3rd position of top job creators in the national economy and were exceeded only by Retail Trade (2.0 million) and Healthcare and Social Assistance (1.7 million). Tourism industries surpassed Construction (1.3 million), Finance and Related Services (1.2 million), and Education Services (1.0 million).
Following declines in 2009, jobs in tourism and in the total economy rebounded in 2010 by 1.0% and 1.8%, respectively.
The food and beverage services industry group was the largest employer among tourism industries in 2010, with more than 50% of all tourism jobs (852,000 jobs).
The second largest employer was recreation and entertainment with 267,000 jobs, followed by accommodation with 234,000 jobs. The transportation industry group was responsible for 211,000 jobs, while travel services provided 43,000 jobs.
Working hours were shorter in tourism industries in Canada compared to jobs economy-wide. The shorter work week is explained by the higher proportion of part-time jobs in tourism.
Since 1997, hourly compensation has been lower in the tourism sector than economy-wide. The gap has widened gradually from $6.16 in 1997 to $9.76 in 2010.
Food-counter attendants, kitchen helpers and related occupations were the single largest occupation in the tourism sector with 251,000 jobs. Almost all of these jobs (235,000) were in the food and beverage services industry group.
In the accommodation industry group, the most prevalent occupation was light duty cleaners with 44,000 jobs. Bus drivers and subway and other transit operators were the main occupation in other transportation industries, with 47,000 jobs, while program leaders and instructors in recreation, sport and fitness were the most common occupation in recreation and entertainment, with 32,000 jobs. Travel counsellors were the main occupation in travel services, but accounted for only 19,000 jobs.
Two tourism industry groups in Canada had a notably older workforce: 63.3% of employees in other transportation and 45.0% of employees in air transportation were aged 45 years and over.
On an hourly basis, immigrants were paid less than non-immigrants in the tourism sector, but on annual basis, immigrants earned more ($29,708 for immigrants versus $26,247 for non-immigrants) because they worked more hours.

Tourism Labour Supply and Demand (2010)

The tourism sector will return to labour shortages in 2012, equivalent to 9,498 full-year jobs.
By 2025, the tourism sector will see a labour shortage equivalent to almost 219,000 full-year jobs.
The largest increase in potential labour demand will occur in the food and beverage services industry, which could support nearly 1.16 million jobs by 2025.
By 2025, the recreation and entertainment industry will face a shortfall of 32,000 full-year jobs.
Increasing the rate of employment of entry-level occupations by just 1% per year from 2011 to 2020 could increase the supply of labour by 105,999 full-year jobs.

Tourism Sector Compensation (2010)

Alberta consistently reported salaries and wages above the national median. The Maritime Provinces, on the other hand, paid lower salaries and wages than the national median.
The overall national base salary for general managers ranged from a low of $40,500 to a high of $117,138 with a median salary of $64,222.
Front desk agents were typically paid an hourly wage. The national wages for this position ranged from a low of $10.00 to a high of $16.10 with a median of $12.00.
The national hourly wages for housekeeping room attendants ranged from a low of $9.65 to a high of $15.12 with a median of $11.50.
Occupations within food & beverage services tended to pay below the median of the tourism sector as a whole. This compensation trend was consistent in front-line and managerial positions for both full-time and part-time employees.
Within the industry groups, food & beverage services (74%) and accommodation (70%) businesses had the highest percentage of staff receiving gratuities.
Notably, 84% of respondent organizations in the 2010 study offered training and development opportunities to their staff, compared to 50% from the 2008 study.
The most common benefits programs offered were group health / dental insurance (75% of organizations compared to 57% in 2008), employee / dependent life insurance (67% in 2010 / 48% in 2008), and long term disability (65% in 2010/45% in 2008).