40% surge in employment across hospitality and catering ahead of relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions

Hospitality and tourism employers are hiring en masse ahead of the relaxation of rules across the UK, according to data collated by job search engine Adzuna.

The company's vacancies for catering and hospitality jobs are up by 39 percent on last month, and have risen by 157 percent as compared to June last year, when they hit an all-time low. 

There are currently 20,245 UK-based catering and hospitality jobs advertised on the site, painting an optimistic picture for industries that have been hit incredibly hard by the pandemic - affecting a huge proportion of the UK's workforce.

Earlier this week, the CGA's Business Leaders Survey revealed that three-quarters of hospitality business leaders intend on taking on new staff members this year, predicting that their workforces will return to 79 percent of their pre-pandemic levels by July 2021 and to 90 percent by December.

This will come as no surprise to many in the industry whose bookings have gone through the roof since the government announced its roadmap last month - at almost double the levels of when restrictions were eased in the summer of 2020 - but with the caveat of having a tall mountain to climb. 

The study stressed that many businesses remain in urgent need of government support if the sector is to avoid more losses, which total 12,000 licensed premises since December 2019.