Number of hospitality job vacancies drops to 146,000

The number of job vacancies in the hospitality sector hit 146,000 between November 2022 and January 2023, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

This is a drop of 4,000 on the previous quarter between August and October 2022.

Hospitality vacancies are 72% higher than those recorded during pre-pandemic levels, which were at 85,000 between January and March 2020.

Total job vacancies across all areas of the economy hit 1.13m in the three months to January 2023, 338,000 above pre-pandemic rates.

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, said: “The labour figures indicate that hospitality businesses are continuing to face an incredibly challenging recruitment landscape, with vacancy rates still 72% higher than pre-pandemic levels.

“This chimes with our Budget submission that we sent to the Chancellor earlier this month, where we call for Apprenticeship Levy reform, to give employers more control over the delivery and funding of training which would, ultimately, allow many of the economically inactive to get back into work, at almost no cost to the Government.

She added: “Recruitment will, undoubtedly, continue to be a key challenge for the industry to grapple with, so government intervention ranging from apprenticeship reform, investment in skills and implementing short-term immigration solutions, will ultimately make the challenge easier for businesses to manage.”

Steve Sweetlove, pay and people partner at RSM UK, said: “As we emerge from the winter, operators should start to really focus on their wider people strategies.

“Key questions that employers need to ask themselves are why would employees want a career in hospitality, why would they want to join us and why would they want to stay with us? For many, looking at the non-remuneration aspects such as progression will be as essential as the hourly rate of pay.”