Chefs and waiters wanted

First lockdowns that lasted for months, now in many places high activity during the holiday season: Hotels and restaurants are experiencing better times again.

But now there is a lack of staff.

The guests feel that too.

Frankfurt / Main - After months of lockdowns, the hospitality industry is troubled by a lack of skilled workers, as many have changed industries during the Corona crisis.

"Roughly speaking, 85 percent of the employees in the pandemic remained loyal to us, and 15 percent looked for jobs in other areas," said Ingrid Hartges, General Manager of the Dehoga Hotel and Restaurant Association, the German Press Agency.

Specifically, the hospitality industry counted around 162,000 fewer jobs requiring social security in May 2021 than in May 2019 before the crisis. This included cooks, waiters and hotel professionals. In view of closed restaurants and hotels, short-time work and the uncertainty about the pandemic, some in retail or logistics looked for alternatives or were specifically poached, said Hartges. "It is therefore of fundamental importance that the permanent opening of our operations is now ensured."

The shortage of skilled workers in the hospitality industry with around 1.8 million employees is also noticeable for guests.

"Some restaurants have set lunch or only open in the early evening because they lack staff," said Hartges.

“Others have inevitably introduced rest days.” Cooks, who were in demand before the pandemic, are now being sought, but also temporary staff in service.

"The gap cannot be filled with mini-jobbers alone."

The shortage of skilled workers threatens to worsen as the 2020 crisis led to a historic slump in the training market.

In the hospitality industry in particular, fewer new trainee contracts were signed, as calculated by the Federal Statistical Office.

According to this, there was a decline of 61.1 percent in tourism salespeople.

The decline was 31 percent for hotel professionals and women and almost 20 percent for chefs.

In total, in these three professions alone, there is a gap of over 5,000 new apprentices.

Hartges said that politicians should promote dual training more among young people.

With the “glorification” of Bachelor and Master degrees, many had decided to study, which later turned out to be not the best path to a successful professional future.

Personnel worries in the catering industry are not new - also because the working hours of chefs, for example, are rarely family-friendly and other industries offer higher salaries.

This year, too, the trend is downward: the number of registered apprenticeships in the industry was 13.5 percent below the previous year's figure at the end of July and the number of registered applicants 18 percent below, according to Dehoga.

The association relies on figures from the Federal Employment Agency.

The hospitality industry lost a lot of sales during the lockdowns.

With the opening of the industry and the holiday season, hotels and restaurants in holiday regions have reported good demand.

City and conference hotels, caterers and clubs continue to complain about losses.

The food-pleasure-restaurants union (NGG) recently warned of a wave of emigration among skilled workers. "If there are no clear prospects for hotel employees and chefs, tens of thousands more employees could leave the hospitality industry in the next few months," said NGG chairman Guido Zeitler. He also sees employers on the move: they should negotiate a plan for the industry with the NGG and commit to collective agreements and employee participation. dpa