Hospitality job vacancies soar by 75%

Data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS), also found overall, the total number of job vacancies across all sectors in June to August 2021 was 1.034m – the first time vacancies has increased to more than 1m since records began.

It is also now almost a quarter of a million above its pre-coronavirus January to March 2020 level.

Largest vacancy increase

Vacancies grew on the quarter in June to August 2021 by more than a third (35.2%) with all industry sectors increasing their number of vacancies.

The accommodation and food services sector saw the largest increase of vacancies, rising by 57,600 – 75.4%.

When compared to the beginning of last year, pre-coronavirus, this percentage growth from January to March 2020 was 59.1%.

Hospitality uniquely hit

In August, ONS statistics found there were 117,000 job vacancies in the sector. At that time, UKHospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls said: “The sector is experiencing widespread recruitment challenges and this is just one of the many negative effects stemming from a prolonged period of closure that hospitality has suffered.

“While furlough helped protect many sector jobs, businesses that have been haemorrhaging cash or accruing debt during enforced enclosures and trading restrictions have been forced to let staff go and were unable to reopen with full teams intact. Some of these workers will have moved to different sectors that have been open and busy over the course of the pandemic.

“This is just more evidence of how hospitality has been uniquely hit by the pandemic and of the crucial need for Government to continue its support.

“As a sector we are committed to promoting the incredible, varied and rewarding careers that hospitality has to offer, to overcome the uncertainties that the stop/start reopenings and closures seem to have generated during the Covid crisis.”