Significantly fewer employees in the German food service industry
Restaurants, bars and cafés employ significantly fewer people than before the coronavirus pandemic. According to the Federal Statistical Office on Thursday, there were 6.7% fewer employees in the German hospitality industry last September than in September 2019. The decline in the number of employees is particularly pronounced in the beverage serving sector, where the number fell by 12.0% compared to September 2019, the same month before the outbreak of the pandemic.
Caterers employed 8.6% fewer staff. "Restaurants, pubs and cafés came closest to the pre-corona level in terms of staff," the statisticians found. Here, the number of employees shrank by a comparatively low 4.1 percent. The loss of purchasing power among customers and the fact that many employees switched to other sectors due to repeated closures during the coronavirus crisis are causing problems for the catering industry.
"Earning opportunities also play a role in the effort to recruit staff," says the statistics office. Employees in the hospitality industry as a whole, which includes gastronomy, receive gross hourly earnings below the low-wage threshold more frequently than in any other sector. In October 2022, this applied to half of the employment relationships in this sector, compared to only 15.2% in the economy as a whole. At that time, the low-wage threshold was €12.76 gross per hour.
The drop in sales in the catering industry compared to pre-coronavirus levels is also significant. In September 2023, the industry recorded 12.6% less in the tills than four years previously. "Anyone who starts a restaurant business generally has a harder time surviving on the market in the long term than in other sectors," emphasized the statisticians. "This was also true before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic." Although the majority of newly founded catering businesses in Germany survive the first year, only around a third survive the first five years.
Since the onset of the Corona pandemic, the clear decline in the number of employees in the German gastronomy sector has been notable. Despite restaurants, pubs, and cafés coming closest to their pre-corona level in terms of staff, they still employed 4.1% fewer employees compared to September 2019.
Source: www.ntv.de
