Status: 01/14/2022 10:44 a.m
In the restaurant, guests sometimes have to wait longer for their beer or schnitzel. Because the shortage of skilled workers in the catering industry has worsened. Almost every fourth job was lost.
Many restaurants, bars and pubs are still suffering badly from the Corona crisis. Even though they have been open again since late spring 2021, they have had to lay off numerous employees. In the first ten months of last year, the number of people employed in the catering industry fell by 23.4 percent, i.e. by almost a quarter compared to the year before the crisis, 2019. This was announced today by the Federal Statistical Office.
Bars are hit the hardest
The employees of bars and pubs were hit particularly hard: almost half (44.7 percent) of the workforce have had to leave here since 2019. The situation in establishments offering food, i.e. mainly restaurants, did not develop quite as dramatically. The number of employees there fell by 22.5 percent.
The jobs were still safest with caterers. In the first ten months of 2021, they only had 17 percent fewer employees than before the crisis – even though many company events and private celebrations were canceled or only took place on a smaller scale.
The situation was particularly dramatic during the lockdown months at the beginning of last year. In February 2021, the number of employees in the catering establishments reached a low.
Particularly marginally employed affected
The victims of the catering crisis are primarily marginal employees, who make up more than a third of the total workforce. They are particularly active in bars and pubs and have consequently been more affected by layoffs. The Federal Statistical Office announced that in the first Corona year of 2020, the number of part-time workers fell by more than 15 percent.
“The corona pandemic has hit the hospitality job market with full force,” complains Managing Director Ingrid Hartges of the German Hotel and Restaurant Association (DEHOGA). Many companies were up to their necks in water. According to a DEHOGA survey, in December the industry’s sales halved compared to the pre-crisis year of 2019. A good 55 percent of companies fear for their existence.
The new restrictions, such as the 2G Plus rule in many federal states, have further slowed down the catering business. In addition, the employees now also have to check the vaccination certificates of their customers.
hope for spring
Despite the still uncertain prospects because of Omikron, the industry is looking forward to the warmer seasons with hope. When the Omicron wave subsides, business should pick up again. Then restaurants and hotels will be desperately looking for good staff again.
“The development shows that employees also come back quickly,” says DEHOGA Managing Director Hartges. In July of last year, for example, the job market in gastronomy recovered again – if only for a short time.