Hospitality staff down 25% since 2019

The Portuguese Association of Hotels and Restaurants (AHRESP) and the National Statistics Institute reveal that the accommodation and restaurant segments have lost around 25% of their staff since 2019.

In 2021, the tourist accommodation and restaurant segments employed 244,400 employees, representing a loss of 25% (76,300) on 2019, before the pandemic, stated AHRESP citing INE statistics.
“In 2021, according to the INE, the HORECA channel (hotel, restaurants and similar establishments) employed 244,400 employees (65,900 in tourist accommodation and 178,500 in restaurants and similar), which meant a total loss of 76,300 on 2019 (-16,100 in accommodation and -60,200 in restaurants)”, stated AHRESP in its daily bulletin.
According to the association, the data shows that the segments have lost “around a quarter of the staff they had in 2019”.
Between 2020 to 2021 they had lost 47,600 staff. “Despite our companies having slowly recommenced their activities in the summer of 2021, this recovery had not been seen in terms of employment”, continued the bulletin report.
To deal with the lack of staff the association said it is urgent to strengthen employment maintenance grant policies and providing new contracts in the tourism sector.
Furthermore, AHRESP is calling for a reduction in taxes for the sector and efforts to make these sectors more attractive for job seekers.
AHRESP says that these measures will permit companies to “attract back staff who were forced to go into jobs in other areas during the pandemic”.