VT ski resorts ramp up hiring despite historically tight job market
The Vermont Department of Labor's chief number cruncher calls it "help wanted fatigue," the constant push by Vermont employers to recruit new employees since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the economy in 2020.
"They needed help for the past two years," said Matthew Barewicz, labor market information director. "They have been trying to recruit for two years."
Barewicz said historically Vermont has never had more than 20,000 job openings at any given time. Since April 2021, the state has not fallen below 23,000 job openings. The latest estimate, for September 2022, is 24,000 open jobs.
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"We're on a streak of 18 consecutive months of over 20,000 available jobs," Barewicz said. "We're seeing anywhere from 50% to 100% higher levels of job openings than we historically have had, since April 2021. We never hit that before."
Ski areas hitting targets
Despite that bigger picture context, Vermont's ski resorts appear to be hitting their targets for seasonal hiring to get ready for the ski season. At Jay Peak, spokesman Mike Chait said the resort is almost fully staffed up.
"I expected it would be a lot worse than it's turning out to be," Chait said. "Overall, we're doing great, we're hired up. We still have a few holes here and there, but we're really looking strong."
Bolton Valley ski resort has close to 400 employees and is still looking for about 50 more, ranging from lift operators to guest services and the rental shop, according to spokesman Scott Pellegrini.
"Although we still have a lot of hiring to do, this is on pace (if not ahead of) the last couple seasons, so we're feeling confident we'll get there," Pellegrini added.
Bolton has been particularly successful in hiring through the federal J-1 program, the visa issued for "exchange visitors," who are coming to the country to teach or study or consult, and applies to ski resort employees. Pellegrini said the resort will be bringing in more than 20 staff members from South America, mostly in the next month.
Fully staffed by Christmas
At Sugarbush ski resort, spokesman J.J. Toland said management has been "more than pleasantly surprised" by the pace of hiring and the amount of job applications they've received. He said the resort expects to be fully staffed with more than 1,100 seasonal employees by Christmas.
"It's a different world than last year, or two years ago obviously," Toland said. "We only have a few holes to fill in front desk staff. Lifts are strong. Food and beverage is very strong. Mountain operations is very strong. We're pushing 100 percent, and will be there in the next 15 to 20 days."
A diverse work force
Sugarbush also takes advantage of the J-1 program, as well as the H2B program, which allows employers to hire foreign nationals for temporary non-agricultural jobs. Toland said the resort also draws workers from Morrisville, Waterbury, Barre and Montpelier.
"We're a diverse workforce," he said.
In September, historically the month that Vermont adds the most jobs, Barewicz said there was an increase of 800 jobs, compared to a historical average of 6,700 jobs added in September. Balancing that out, Vermont added 6,300 jobs in June, which normally only sees about 700 new jobs. Barewicz said it all adds up to treading water at best.
"For every one position that gets filled, another opens," he said. "We're not bringing in new people, we're just moving people around."
Contact Dan D’Ambrosio at 660-1841 or ddambrosi@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanDambrosioVT. This coverage is only possible with support from our readers.
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This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Ski resorts are staffing up nicely despite continuing labor crunch
