P.E.I.'s tourism workers are relatively young and poorly paid

When compared to the tourism workforce in other provinces, P.E.I. has the most young workers, and offers the lowest pay, according to a new report from Statistics Canada.

The report compares provincial work forces in 2015. It found 38.4 per cent of tourism workers on the Island were aged 15 to 24, the highest percentage in the country. The national average was 33.5 per cent.

Those workers were also receiving the lowest wages in the country, $14.19 per hour on average, though they also posted the fastest wage growth, at 5.4 per cent. The national average was $20.83.

The low wages match the trend for low wages across the provincial economy. Total wages were also growing quickly in 2015, but have fallen against the Canadian average in recent months.

• P.E.I. wages sliding against Canadian average

The report also found P.E.I. has few immigrant workers in the sector when compared to the rest of the country, a trend which is common in Atlantic Canada.

On the Island, immigrants made up 5.6 per cent of the workforcewhile the national average was 25.9 per cent. Newfoundland and Labrador had the lowest percentage of immigrant workers, at 3.1 per cent.

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