RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) —This Labor Day, North Carolina tourism is up, but so is the related labor force.
Since the COVID-19 outbreak, fewer people have chosen to work in the tourism industry.
According to Wit Tuttell, head of VISIT North Carolina, an organization that promotes tourism, “North Carolina has done such a fantastic job recruiting other industries that a lot of people that were in tourism that maybe got displaced during the pandemic have gone to another job.”
The State Department of Commerce reports that Tar Heel state tourism earnings reached a record high of $35 billion in 2023, up 22% from the previous year.
However, the most recent statistics indicates that employment is still 6% below what it was in 2019.
Jobs associated to lodging have decreased by 2.4 percent overall; food service workers have decreased by 3 percent; and the largest decline in the tourism workforce is in recreation, which has decreased by 7.6 percent, and retail laborers, which has decreased by 14.2 percent.
The most popular industry for people to enter as their first employment is tourism. Our beginning salary are therefore often lower. Thus, Tuttell stated, “I believe it is an issue the industry must overcome.
To draw workers into the business, the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association (NCRLA) has been launching a campaign. More than 3,000 positions are listed on the website’s employment tracker, more than 2,000 of which are for entry-level positions.
The exception to this rule of employment, however, are laborers like James Holmes, who has worked for Deco Raleigh, a downtown shop, for five years.
It’s good, remarked Holmes. “Working downtown and seeing all the conventions is fun.”