According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), job vacancies were 100% higher in the hospitality sector than the corresponding pre-Covid period.

There were 178,300 empty roles in the accommodation and foodservice sectors between November 2021 and January 2022, a significant 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.

Trade body, UKHospitality has thrown it’s weight behind the ‘Hospitality Rising Campaign’ which aims to promote careers in the industry to attract new talent to the sector.

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 Hospitality Industry represents 10% of overall UK employment which translates to 6% of businesses and 5% of GDP. It’s the third largest private sector employer in the UK.