The number of youth seeking jobs in Banff and Canmore, Alta., is increasing despite a decline in the number of available jobs, according to local officials.

Michel Dufresne, director of the local job resource centres, told CBC News that about twice as many people are arriving at offices looking for work compared with previous years.

Dufresne said there are not enough job postings to accommodate the interest in working in the area, a tourist-heavy region in and on the eastern edge of Banff National Park.

"We've had twice as many people looking for work … and we've had half as many job orders to fill," he said.

In the past, the towns had been seen as good places for young workers to get transient jobs.

But now many of the young people who arrive in the area looking for work are forced to move on soon after arriving because they can't get a job, Dufresne said.

"They could be a couple weeks looking for a housekeeper's position and not finding anything," he said. "[They're] moving on or going back home."

Jerard McEchern moved from Halifax to look for work in construction. Finding jobs used to be no problem, he said.

"Now I have absolutely nothing and I don't see anything in the future as of right now," McEchern said.

Twenty-three-old Tyler Martin, who has a job at a local café, said jobseekers are constantly coming in to local businesses.

"We've got three resumés just from today," Martin said. "You either have to be really qualified or very, very luck or know someone."