Nine in ten hospitality firms are struggling to find staff
New figures announced this week by the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) saw a significant increase in the number of businesses struggling to recruit staff, with issues in the service sector reaching historically high levels.
Drawn from the BCC's Quarterly Recruitment Outlook for Q3 [1], the figure was derived from a survey of over 5,600 firms.
92% of hotels and catering sector firms reported difficulties, while 75% of service sector firms said likewise, both the highest response rates on record for the dataset going back to 1997.
Adrian Hanrahan, Managing director of Robinson Brothers [2], said: "We have recruitment issues right across the board, I have never had anything like it before. What we are struggling with is getting people in full-time posts, and this has been going on for some time."
50% of all respondents reported having difficulties hiring skilled technical staff, 45% had difficulty hiring for managerial roles and 34% couldn’t find 'unskilled' or 'semi-skilled' workers.
The BBC's Head of People Policy Jane Gratton said: "While employers are investing more in training, apprenticeships and flexible working practices, this will not improve things overnight.
"Right now, we need government help to provide a more flexible skills system, rapid retraining opportunities and targeted immigration initiatives to plug skills and labour gaps. Wage pressures and energy prices are also ramping up the cumulative costs, and there is a limit to how much more can be absorbed before firms are forced out of business."