Hospitality wages up by 38% as sector becomes highest riser
Data from UK independent job site CV-Library, which compared data from November 2018 with the same period in 2017, has found the rate of salary growth in hospitality is the highest of 10 key sectors including IT, accounting and construction.
Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of CV-Library, said: "This staggering increase in salaries is a direct result of the ongoing struggles that many businesses are currently facing. Ongoing economic uncertainty, coupled with the growing skills gap, is making it difficult to entice candidates away from their current positions. As such, it's clear from the data that organisations in the hospitality sector are pulling out all the stops to secure the top talent."
It comes as hospitality attempts to inflate wages to compensate for the skills shortage currently gripping the industry. In October it was revealed the average hourly pay of workers over 25 in the UK hospitality industry is £8.60 - 39p above the new £8.21 National Living Wage announced in next year's budget.
Data compiled by software provider Fourth found the average pay of those aged between 21 and 24 was £8.35, 65p higher than the new threshold; those 18-20 were on £7.37, £1.22 higher than the new threshold, and those under 18 were on £6.52, which stood £2.32 higher.
Mike Shipley, analytics and insight solutions director at Fourth, said: "Considering hourly wages of hospitality workers increased by 4.8% over the last six months, it's likely the gap between real wages and the new thresholds will be further exacerbated between now and April.
"Attracting and retaining quality employees is one of the biggest challenges hospitality operators now face and with a well-documented shortage of labour, particularly in skilled back-of-house roles, operators are offering competitive rates, alongside development programmes, incentives and other initiatives to attract the best employees, which are all driving up costs."
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