Hospitality job vacancies rise

It said it was clear businesses in the hospitality sector were looking to freshen up their workforce this spring.

The result was that advertised salaries in the hospitality industry saw an increase of 2.9% month on month. Application rates also rose in March, jumping by 6.3% when compared with data from February 2018.

The job site compared data from March 2018 to February 2018, looking at fluctuations in pay, jobs and applications.

It also revealed that the catering sector was also looking to recruit with job vacancies up 17.1%.

CV-Library founder and managing director Lee Biggins said that businesses were continuing to drive its recruitment following a strong start to the year.

“What’s more, the increase in hospitality vacancies suggests that business confidence is growing, offering plenty of exciting opportunities for job hunters in the sector,” Biggins said.

“It’s clear that job hunters were also feeling optimistic in March, with application rates increasing across the hospitality industry. This is particularly good news for businesses in the sector that are facing the backlash of a widening skills gap, and suggests that there is a healthy pipeline of talent to fill their roles. It’s great to see employers are working hard to offer competitive salaries, and their efforts are clearly paying off.”

However, research and development charity Joseph Rowntree Foundation said that boosting pay for bar staff could provide an answer to the UK’s productivity puzzle.

It highlighted recent statistics from the Office of National Statistics from October to December 2017, which revealed that hospitality has seen “really dire” productivity growth as it fell 6%.  

Joseph Rowntree Foundation economist Dave Innes said: "This is bad news for millions of low-paid workers, who are seeing real wages stuck in the doldrums and increasingly trapped in poverty.

"Despite record employment in the economy, one in eight workers are locked in poverty. Retail and hospitality alone account for a third of workers in poverty. The IFS (Institute for Fiscal Studies) has confirmed one of the biggest driving factors behind the real wage slump for the lowest earners is our dismal productivity performance.

“If we want to solve the productivity puzzle, as well as flat living standards, better management of our baristas and bar staff may be part of the answer.”