Bartender

The employment outlook will be Limited for bartenders (NOC 64301) in British Columbia for the 2025-2027 period.

The following factors contributed to this outlook:

• Employment growth will lead to a few new positions.
• Not many positions will become available due to retirements.
• There are a moderate number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

Consumer spending and behavior influence establishments and services. 

The food services industry is characterized by entry-level positions and high employee turnover. 

Key trends for this occupation include contactless ordering and payment, artificial intelligence (AI) used to analyze data for and inventory management and waste reduction, kitchen automation for repetitive tasks, and delivery-centred ghost kitchens.

Here are some key facts about bartenders in British Columbia:

• Approximately 4,650 people work in this occupation.
• Bartenders mainly work in the following sectors:
  • Food services and drinking places (NAICS 722): 79%
  • Arts, entertainment and recreation (NAICS 71): 6%
• The distribution of full-time and part-time workers in this occupation is:
  • Full-time workers: 49% compared to 78% for all occupations
  • Part-time workers: 51% compared to 22% for all occupations
• 16% of bartenders work all year, while 84% work only part of the year, compared to 61% and 39% respectively among all occupations. Those who worked only part of the year did so for an average of 32 weeks compared to 42 weeks for all occupations.
• Less than 5% of bartenders are self-employed compared to an average of 17% for all occupations.
• The gender distribution of people in this occupation is:
  • Men: 49% compared to 52% for all occupations
  • Women: 51% compared to 48% for all occupations
• The educational attainment of workers in this occupation is:
  • no high school diploma: 8% compared to 8% for all occupations
  • high school diploma or equivalent: 54% compared to 28% for all occupations
  • apprenticeship or trades certificate or diploma: 8% compared to 13% for all occupations
  • college certificate or diploma or university certificate below bachelor's: 13% compared to 17% for all occupations
  • bachelor's degree: 15% compared to 22% for all occupations
  • university certificate, degree or diploma above bachelor level: less than 5% compared to 12% for all occupations