- October 13, 2021
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CBS17.com
by: Lillian Donahue
RALEIGH N.C. (WNCN) – There are not enough employees to fill tens of thousands of open hospitality positions statewide, but Triangle-area schools are hoping to bring in a new generation of life-long industry workers.
The North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association estimates about 40,000 jobs in hotels and restaurants statewide remain unfilled.
Association president and CEO Lynn Minges said the connections made between culinary schools and programs are important in rebuilding a workforce hit hard during the pandemic.
“Part of the payoff for those businesses are that often they get to know those students while they’re still engaged in the classroom setting, so that when they’re graduate they are prepared and ready to accept a job hopefully at one of those businesses,” Minges said.
Jeff Hadley, Wake Tech hospitality department head, said the program has restaurants reaching out to them daily looking for staff and many are either full or part-time employees before graduation, even with an internship requirement to graduate.
“If you look around this kitchen right now I would say probably 80 percent of them are employed in some capacity,” Hadley said.
Dr. Po-Ju Chen with North Carolina Central University’s hospitality department said they see the same thing.
“Many of our students, they are not only full-time students, but they are full-time employees in the industry, so this is very different than the other disciplines,” Chen said. “We see our role as very critical not just to educate our students but support our industry too.”
Both two– and four-year programs say are working to refill classes after a drop-off in attendance during pandemic shutdowns and restrictions. But the need in the business has only grown.
“In our upper classes, we are a little light there but our intro classes are full,” Hadley said.
Wake Tech’s hospitality, culinary and baking programs total around 430 students across different campuses.
“It may be because of the pandemic, because of a financial issue, now we (have) enrollment down to 51,” Chen said.
Nationally, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports 157,000 people quit the accommodations or food industry in August alone.
Culinary programs are trying to train people who will want to stay in the business longer.
“So, a lot of people left and we’re trying to pick the pieces up I guess you’d say,” Hadley said. “Make it more than just a job. They’re going to turn it into a career, go into management.”
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MOSCOW (AP) — Russia on Wednesday reported a new record of daily coronavirus deaths amid a slow vaccination rate and authorities’ reluctance to tighten restrictions.
The government coronavirus task force reported 984 coronavirus deaths over the past 24 hours, the pandemic’s new high. The country has repeatedly marked record daily death tolls over the past few weeks as infections soared to near all-time highs, with 28,717 confirmed new cases reported Wednesday.
PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo police have clashed with ethnic Serbs in the north during an operation against the smuggling of goods, police and local media reported Wednesday.
A police statement said that raids were held in four areas, including northern Mitrovica which is mostly populated by ethnic Serbs.
LOS LLANOS DE ARIDANE, Canary Islands (AP) — Hundreds of people on La Palma in Spain’s Canary Islands awoke on Wednesday fearing for their homes and property after a new lava stream from an erupting volcano threatened to engulf another neighborhood on its way toward the Atlantic Ocean.
Island authorities ordered the evacuation of around 800 people from a section of the coastal town of Los Llanos de Aridane on Tuesday after the lava took a new course and put their homes in its probable path of destruction.
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