The summer vacation season is upon us and we like to conduct labor shortage checks BEFORE we book travel a destination. This week we looked at Hawaii and we found a disturbing report on Hawaii’s current labor shortage in hospitality. From Digital Marketing Read:
Hawaii reportedly has a labor shortage in its hospitality industry, forcing restaurateurs to seek inventive staffing solutions. Among them is Mikiya Wagyu Shabu House, set to open in June, with more than 50 open positions.
source: DMNews.com
Fifty open positions sounds like a disaster waiting to happen indicating the potential for long lines, poor service and potentially slow or improper cooking if all of these labor issues aren’t resolved. The problem won’t be limited to restaurants, hotels in Hawaii have been struggling with labor now since before the pandemic.
Hawaii has unique issues too as it is an island in the Pacific far away from sources of traveling labor. The cost of living is one of the highest of all United States and there is limited child care and other services on the island due to labor shortages. In essence Hawaii is in a labor shortage doom loop and the state needs to find a way to break that cycle.
We will keep an eye on Hawaii for vacationing and investing purposes but in the meantime, stay tuned, stay profitable and stay solvent…