Low-wage tag still dogs hospitality industry
Hospitality has failed to shake off its low-wage image and still pays its staff less on average than other industries, says the Hospitality Training Foundation (HTF).
Its latest annual labour review, for 1999, found male workers in non-manual hospitality jobs were earning an average £123 a week less than the UK average, while women were £68 worse off.
Male manual workers in hospitality were taking home £100 a week less than other workers, and women £37 less.
More than half (52%) of male non-manual workers in hospitality earned less than £350 a week, against 31% across all industries. The gap was smaller for women because their wages are generally lower across the board.
Restaurants proved the worst payers, closely followed by pubs and clubs and then hotels. The best average wages were found among contract and in-house caterers.
Women made up 68% of the hospitality workforce and part-timers 57%, the highest percentage across all industries.
Staffing levels in hospitality have continued to fall since 1997's peak of 1.9 million employees to 1.83 million in 1999. The HTF believes efficiency gains through better training and multi-skilling have played a part in the decrease, alongside general economic conditions.
It believes the downturn is only temporary and that hospitality will create 300,000 new jobs between 2002 and 2009.
With recruitment difficulties still acute, especially for chefs, cooks, catering assistants, bar staff and kitchen porters, the HTF warns that a company's ability to fill vacancies has as much to do with the pay, conditions and career opportunities it offers as with the state of the economy in general.
by Angela Frewin angela.frewin@rbi.co.uk
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