Hospitality staffing shortage pushes UK job vacancies over one million for first time

The explosion in hospitality job vacancies has helped push the number of employment opportunities over the one million mark for the first time since records began.

According the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the 1.03 million job vacancies in August across all sectors was 249,000 above the pre-pandemic level between January and March 2020.

While the hospitality sector has seen the largest number of job losses as a result of the pandemic, a drop of 178,000 since December 2019, it has also accounted for the largest increase in number of job vacancies, up to 122,000. In August alone, a further 57,600 hospitality jobs became available.

Jonathan Athow, deputy national statistician, ONS, said it was not surprising that the record number of job vacancies was driven by hospitality as it was “the sector with the highest proportion of employers reporting their job openings are hardest to fill”.

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, tweeted: “There is insufficient labour to meet demand in August meaning the labour market is running hot and the ending of furlough is unlikely to fully address.”

Around one million workers are expected to come off furlough at the end of September. However, it is not yet known how many of those people will return to their previous jobs.

The total number of jobs in June 2021 was an estimated 34.8 million, down by 856,000 since December 2019, with the level of unemployment standing at 4.6%.

Kate Nicholls UKHospitality chief executive said: “The industry has been at the forefront of job creation as the economy begins to recover and rebuild. But with additional pressures and uncertainties, as well as being the last sector to reopen, hospitality has been hamstrung in its attempts to fill vacancies. With the effectiveness of the furlough scheme, the economy is also close to operating at full employment, making the need for government support on this issue absolutely vital.

“It’s crucial that existing initiatives, such as the Kickstart scheme, are functioning effectively as we have tens of thousands of jobs to offer people – as well as working with us to get more people into apprenticeships and training. Government must now also seriously consider temporary immigration reforms, adding chefs to the Shortage Occupation List and support the broader supply chain. The labour problems of the summer for hospitality and the wider economy are not going away.

“The latest figures once again show the unique impact the pandemic has had on the hospitality sector - but also its potential to be at the forefront of the economic recovery with the right support and conditions. We are a job creator and can drive economic growth and job creation, but further support from Government is required to realise this. Measures we are calling for include the long-overdue reform of business rates and a permanently lower rate of VAT for hospitality.”

Photo: David Tadevosian / Shutterstock