The restaurant industry has always had margins as thin as the finely honed blade of a chef’s knife. But these days those margins are cutting deep, especially in British Columbia, and Restaurants Canada is sounding the alarm about an industry that employs 1.4 million people and serves 23 million customers across the country every day.
The B.C. restaurant industry has just experienced the largest year-over-year drop in employment of any province. While the province gained nearly 20,000 jobs overall, employment in the restaurant and accommodation sector dropped by 10,800 positions compared to September 2023, according to the Labour Force Survey by Statistics Canada released in October. Just between August and September the restaurant industry lost 5,000 jobs and is seeing the lowest employment level since 2016 (excluding the pandemic).
Restaurants Canada also found that guest count was lower this summer than last year for 70 per cent of restaurant companies and profitability was lower for a staggering 81 per cent. In light of that, the not-for-profit association is calling on the provincial government to adopt measures that will relieve the pressure on restaurants by:
- Reducing provincial payroll taxes and encouraging the federal government to reduce payroll taxes for employers and workers;
- Returning all or part of WorkSafeBC’s $2.1-billion surplus to employers;
- Implementing a tourism and hospitality stream for BC’s Provincial Nominee Program;
- Implementing other policy recommendations outlined in the Save BC Restaurants menu of issues.
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