Thank you, Christine Endicott, for yet another timely editorial that hits the nail on the head when it comes to issues affecting our community. (“The real costs of commuting,” April 21.) The solution is indeed to bring better paying jobs to Squamish.
Over the past year we have been seeing an increase in the amount of jobs available in Squamish as businesses grow in response to increasing numbers of visitors and residents in the region. However, the number and quality of jobs currently available are nowhere near the level needed to locally sustain the volume of people moving here, a large proportion of whom are commuting elsewhere for work.
In the wake of the declining forestry industry and the closure of the Woodfibre pulp mill, Squamish, like B.C., is diversifying itself, relying on several sectors for economic success. Technology and tourism are two areas in which we are going to see development and growth on a local and provincial level, bringing with it the infrastructure and jobs to create a strong and diverse local economy. Tourism is often not recognized as the huge driver for economic growth and jobs that it is. According to the BC Tourism Labour Market Strategy (published in 2012 by Go2HR), B.C.’s tourism and hospitality industry is now the single largest “primary resource industry” in the province, generating an annual real GDP of more than $6.4 billion in 2010, ahead of forestry, mining, oil and gas extraction, and agriculture.
While the construction industry remains the largest employer in Squamish (as it is province-wide) and will continue to be a strong source of well paying, steady employment, the tourism industry is often criticized for not providing the same type of secure, family-supporting jobs, relying instead on a steady flow of seasonal workers at entry-level wages. However, this also is expected to change. A number of factors are contributing to major labour shortages locally and provincially in the tourism sector. Many businesses are recognizing that to retain quality employees, they need to re-evaluate their business model and re-think their hiring and recruiting strategies. While compensation in the sector slowly catches up, another benefit for employees working in tourism is the ability to grow their careers within the company. Whereas a university degree or technical training is required as the minimum level of education for even entry-level jobs in administration, finance, or trades and construction, tourism is one of the few industries where employees can move fairly quickly from entry level to management, where the wages are comparable to other “family-supporting” jobs.
With the growth of the diverse sectors that we are cultivating provincially and locally, we will see new and existing businesses thrive and an array of well paying jobs increase in Squamish.
Naomi Dunaway
Marketing and Resource Centre Coordinator, WorkBC
Squamish
