Hospitality job vacancies hit new high of 178,000

The number of job vacancies in the hospitality sector has risen by almost 100,000 since before the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, new figures show.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), there were 178,300 empty roles in the accommodation and foodservice sectors between November 2021 and January 2022.

This is a major increase on the 84,000 staff vacancies seen across the industry between January and March 2020.

There was also a 13.6% rise in empty job roles between November 2021 and January 2022, compared to the previous quarter.

Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA), said the figures showed how "challenging" the staffing situation was in hospitality.

"Now and throughout the past 22 months the hospitality sector have experienced acute labour shortages due to varying factors from the pandemic through to Brexit," said McClarkin.

"We are calling on the government to provide greater flexibility in current employment and skills initiatives to enable the sector to meet the challenges of recruiting and retaining a skilled and motivated pub and brewing workforce to help drive the economic recovery throughout the UK."

Across the wider economy the number of job vacancies reached a record high of almost 1.3m at the start of the year, with accommodation and food services seeing the largest increase in unfilled roles.

The shortage of staff has led to an increase in hospitality wages. The number of chef roles with salaries of over £50,000 has increased by 373% over the past year, according to data from recruitment site Caterer.com.

The owner of London restaurant Bob Bob Ricard Soho told The Caterer it has yet to fill a £91,000 a year head chef role amid increased competition for talent.

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