The scale of the labour crisis facing the hospitality and foodservice sector was laid bare this week after official data showed a fresh surge in vacancies.
Office for National Statistics (ONS) data for June to August showed accommodation and foodservice as the sector with the highest ratio of vacancies (5.9) to employee jobs (100).
The sector also recorded the second highest rate of vacancy growth behind transport and storage. Its vacancy rate is twice that of the economy as a whole, despite the sector creating 122,000 new jobs between March and June.
The overall number of job vacancies in the UK was 1.03 million, the first time vacancies has risen over 1 million since records began and 249,000 above its pre-coronavirus pandemic January to March 2020 level.
Reasons include a shortage of EU workers due to Brexit and the pandemic, and the government’s furlough scheme, which is due to be wound down at the end of September.
UKHospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls said the latest figures underlined the significant impact labour market disruption and associated labour shortages were having across the economy and in particular within the hospitality sector.
“The industry has been at the forefront of job creation as the economy begins to recover and rebuild,” said Nicholls. “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.”
Nicholls said it was crucial that existing government jobs’ initiatives such as the Kickstart scheme, are functioning effectively. She also called on the government to consider temporary immigration reforms, including adding chefs to the shortage occupation list for jobs deemed to be in short supply within the domestic UK market, and to support the broader supply chain. “The labour problems of the summer for hospitality and the wider economy are not going away,” added Nicholls.
The ONS this week reported that the rate of UK price inflation leapt to 3.2% for the year to August up from 2% amid a rise in food and drink prices. The record increase was in part attributed to the government’s ‘eat out to help out’ scheme which saw restaurant prices kept artificially low in August 2020.
The government also confirmed this week a further delay on the imposition of full Brexit border checks on certain food and drink products until July 2022.
The Environmental, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee, meanwhile, has launched a snap inquiry into the impacts of factors such as Brexit, covid-19, and rising commodity prices on the food supply chain.
