Businesses in Dawson City, Yukon, struggle to find workers ahead of tourist season

The Yukon's tourist season is right around the corner but some businesses in Dawson City are still desperately trying to find staff.

The Triple J Hotel's general manager Sadie Whitelaw said her business is no exception.

"Especially in our kitchen," she said. "We have ads out looking for staff... but yeah, we're not getting any resumes which is kind of a bummer."

Dawson City is one of Yukon's busiest tourist towns and it usually sees a huge influx of visitors in the summer. The town typically relies on a seasonal workforce to help staff local hotels, restaurants and other tourism businesses through the busiest months. 

Whitelaw said a lack of kitchen staff means she's had to cut the restaurant's hours to dinner service only.

"We used to have the kitchen staff that we've had for a couple years working double shifts," she said. "Our kitchen staff is overworked. Once we get staff we'll open more. We just had to cut the hours just to keep the staff we have."

Triple J Hotel even went as far as offering accommodations for full time staff in hopes to draw people in.

Whitelaw said it did entice people to come work for them but it still didn't fully solve the problem.

"We've pretty much filled our accommodation now," she said. "We're just interviewing a couple more people now, but for housekeeping. So that definitely improved our situation there."

Whitelaw said despite the lack of kitchen staff, she is optimistic that it will be a good tourist season. She said many people come to town looking for a job in mid-summer, so she is keeping her hopes up that she can fill the rest of the positions then.

'It limits our operating capacity'

The Klondike Visitors Association (KVA) is also struggling to find staff for its casino, Diamond Tooth Gerties.

"If we're not able to find people, then it limits our operating capacity," said Ricky Mawunganidze, the executive director of the KVA.

"You know, so that's the number of patrons we have in the facility at any given time. It also limits the offering that we can provide so you know, you might see fewer tables being opened."

Mawunganidze's hope is have the casino open seven days a week this summer. That wasn't possible last year because of a similar staffing crunch.

"We're a little bit worse off than we were last year this time, as far as committed staff members," he said. "We operated on a five-day schedule. And so that's very concerning for us."

He said the KVA has made solid efforts this year to promote working in Dawson City. He said he hopes that it will all pay off. 

Like Whitelaw, Mawunganidze said that historically, staffing increases mid-summer.

"We're excited for the summer season," he said.

"And you know, in these days of sort of constant fear, and doom and gloom, we need to be optimistic and we need to put our foot forward. I think we're going to continue to promote this wonderful experience and hopefully create infrastructure that will encourage the growth of our labour market."