BUSINESS NEWS
4 • June 2021
Labor shortage
Coast River Business Journal
Hospitality industry prepares for busy summer
Story by Edward Stratton & Emily Lindblom
Coast River Business Journal
Employers in the tourism industry are
struggling to get workers amid a labor short-
age caused in part by generous unemploy-
ment benefits lasting until Labor Day. State
economists in Oregon calculated that state
and federal unemployment benefits com-
bined equaled $16.75 an hour, or $34,840 a
year.
Seaside hotelier Masudur Khan tries to
keep a staff of around 100 housekeepers
employed year-round in a seasonal industry,
while adding about 10% to 15% during the
summer tourism rush. This year, that means
paying his employees at least $16 an hour
into September.
“There’s no option, because there’s
demand and less supply,” he said. “It’s eco-
nomics, and they have the power. If you hire
them for $14 or $15 (an hour), after one
week of training, they say, ‘I’m going to
go to the other hotel, because they’re offer-
ing me more, unless you match it.’ If you
match it, then what’s going to happen? You
have 100 other employees, and you have to
match. So it’s really difficult to manage.”
Northwest Oregon Works, a regional
workforce board, named the hospitality
industry as a major sector of the regional
economy, as it is the second largest private
sector in the state behind health care.
Arica Sears, deputy director of the Ore-
gon Coast Visitors Center, said that desig-
nation is important because it commits the
workforce board to work with organizations
like hers in order to address the needs in the
industry.
“There’s a huge need for growth,” Sears
said, adding that businesses and hotels have
been adding incentives to entice people to
work for them. “We hear a lot about referral
and sign-on bonuses, increased wages and
housing to come work there.”
Sears said there’s a mismatch happening
between vaccinated people excited to get
back to normal and the hospitality industry
struggling to keep up.
“Because of the workforce shortage our
industry can’t just go back to normal right
now,” Sears said. “We want customers to
remember to be patient and kind and thank
their servers because they’ve had a really
rough year with layoffs.”
Oregon recently tightened requirements
for unemployment, requiring recipients to
be actively searching for work. The state has
not intend to end the federal unemployment
PHOTOS BY HAILEY HOFFMAN/THE ASTORIAN
CLOCKWISE: People explore the beach at sunset in Seaside. People line the streets of Seaside. People cross the street near the Turnaround in
Seaside at sunset.