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Updated: January 10, 2022 2022 Economic Forecast

2022 Forecast: HospitalityMaine workforce chief predicts banner year for COVID-battered sector

By Renee Cordes

Derek Fassett, HospitalityMaine’s director of education and workforce development since September, predicts a banner year for a sector hammered by COVID.

Derek Fassett head and shoulders portrait
PHOTO / Courtesy of HOSPITALITYMAINE
Derek Fassett, HospitalityMaine’s director of workforce development

“The hospitality industry is on track to reach record performance highs,” he says, noting that taxable retail sales for Maine restaurants and lodging establishments in 2021 were better than expected and that “all signs point to continued increases.”

While both sectors saw an improvement over 2019, the last pre-pandemic year, lodging businesses saw their taxable retail sales jump by 27% while eateries registered a smaller increase, of 3.5%, based on data through October.

Nevertheless, Fasssett believes it will be challenging for businesses to ramp up for 2022 given the tight labor market for all industries.

Building on HospitalityMaine’s five-year roadmap for tackling the industry’s workforce woes, Fassett says his priorities include partnering with agencies to try to attract more people from underused labor pools to hospitality. The Augusta-based nonprofit already works with state agencies such as the Maine Department of Corrections, Bureau of Rehabilitation Services and Maine Adult Education, for example.

Youth engagement is another focus for HospitalityMaine as it works with groups including Jobs for Maine Graduates, Junior Achievement Maine and LearningWorks.

Fassett also aims to create what he calls “stackable registered apprenticeships,” which will entail working with the Maine Community College System on curriculum development and to ensure connections to Maine’s four-year state and private universities.

“Next steps will be to solidify our partnerships so processes don’t stagnate and so that they become more widely known and accessible,” Fassett says.

A U.S. Army veteran with a background in military recruitment, Fassett says he expects his experience working with veterans to serve him well in his new role “because it’s next to impossible to be an expert in all things workforce.”

“There are just too many moving pieces, unique business challenges and diverse business structures to stay on top of everything, he says. “Being able to keep at it through challenging times and leveraging the experience of the amazing HospitalityMaine team will surely bring success.”

His outlook for Maine’s economy: “Hopeful, creative, resilient, persistent and ready.”

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