Guest takes room key card at check-in desk of hotel, close up

More than 90,000 workers left the UK’s hospitality sector over the past year, a new report has revealed.

The research by Caterer.com has found that vacancies had grown by 342 per cent since hospitality venues were allowed to reopen as Covid restrictions were lifted.

It also revealed that there are currently more than 28,000 vacancies advertised on the site.

Sacha Lord, Night Time Economy Adviser for Greater Manchester

“There are over 2,500 hospitality vacancies right now across Greater Manchester and the depletion of staff across the industry is on a scale that is difficult to comprehend. There are severe recruitment issues and many venues are closing midweek, unable to open full time purely due to staff shortages.”

“Not only has the workforce been decimated by Brexit and the introduction of salary-threshold visas but the closures enforced during Covid lockdowns have forced staff to leave the industry and retrain, or seek higher wages elsewhere.”

“As we rebuild, we can’t now expect the youngest and hardest hit by the pandemic to be satisfied with minimum wage roles, when they can earn higher salaries elsewhere in office work or in retail.”

“By continuing to pay staff minimum wage, the industry is shooting itself in the foot and can’t expect to attract new entrants. It needs to now look hard and reevaluate what it is offering its staff in terms of salary in order to really compete with other industries and survive.”

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