UK seeks workers (seriously) | Economy

A year after laying off employees due to an epidemic, Gabriel Gonzalez faced the opposite problem: employees could reopen his two Peruvian restaurants Fusion In London. “Unfortunately, we had to reduce the team, some decided to return to their home country. But now, with the reactivation, it was very difficult to find people. We were very lucky in the kitchen, but it cost us a lot to find staff and customer service staff,” said the owner of the LIMA London Group. He says the wages of “some workers” were too high to sustain them.

Lack of timely your case: The labor shortage has worsened United Kingdom Over the past few months, some companies have resorted to appealing to the government to take urgent action. Some of them, such as the eye-catching Haripo of Germany, warned that all demands for the importation of gummy candies into the British Isles could not be met if it did not find transporters. Others, such as Premier Foods, one of the nation’s largest food companies, are dangerous, which the management recommended Boris Johnson To study the possibility of resorting to the military to make up for the shortage of truck drivers, it threatens to pull supermarkets out of stock.

With the participation of more than 5,700 companies, according to the British Chamber of Commerce, there were problems finding 70% of employees in the second quarter of 2021. The construction sector was the hardest hit, rising to 82%, followed by hotels and gastronomy (76%). “As companies were freed from the restrictions of imprisonment, the skills and labor shortages they experienced before the epidemic erupted again,” said the director of public policy for the Chamber of Commerce.

Deportation of foreigners

According to a recent report by the National Bureau of Statistics (ONS), the number of jobs released between April and June is higher than pre-epidemic levels: 862,000, almost 10% higher than in January and March 2020. The challenge of filling these vacancies is not new to the UK, but then Forced suspension by Govt-19 originHe was reinstated by the end of the free movement of foreigners and workers from the European Union, who was released from prison in January.

According to the Employment and Personnel Selection Federation (REC) and KPMG Consultancy, the number of available workers has fallen sharply since 1997. At the time, we estimated it would take 50,000 to 60,000 truck drivers. Now it will take 75,000, ”said Kate Gibbs of the UK Road Transport Association, one of the most affected sectors. Historically, its type was mostly made up of Eastern European citizens, who left their families in their home countries and sent money every month. “When the pound sank due to Brexit, they started returning home because it’s not worth having two houses anymore. In total, we think there are 15,000 left,” Gibbs said.

Included are the effects of the epidemic, which led to the cancellation of 30,000 truck driving licenses last year. The effects now appear on many fronts — from small municipalities that stop collecting waste to large supermarket chains such as Tesco, which offers drivers an incentive of 1,000 1,000 (Rs 7,300). Before September 30th.

Along with road transport, sector-based companies such as butcheries, hotels and restaurants, and civil construction continue to ask the government to add its industries to the list of difficult industries. The space on that list will allow for lower bureaucracy and lower staff to be brought in from abroad. Gervin Davis, a public policy consultant at the Charter Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPT), says that staff shortages are “evenly distributed” across sectors. “But the most interesting is in the low-wage sectors, namely gastronomy and retail, especially after the increase in unemployment they experienced last year,” he says.

Paying for referrals

Bars and restaurants have redoubled their efforts to add new workers. The Hawksmore Steakhouse Chain offered a bonus of 2,000 2,000 (approximately ,500 14,500) to employees who nominate approved candidates to fill vacancies. On the other hand, chefs like Jose Flores, 41, of Bolivia surprised themselves with numerous and definite offers to change jobs. “Last year, as a newcomer, the epidemic came and I was constantly looking for work, but no,” he recalled. Finally, he found him in a company Catering He stayed until June, when his colleagues began to leave one by one, and he left the business without staff. “There was a demand for workers everywhere … I even took two job exams a day and it didn’t matter if I told them I didn’t speak English,” he says.

“It was due to a combination of factors,” Davis explains. “The main thing International spread, Which created uncertainty and anxiety … EU citizens, who are over-represented in these fields, have returned home temporarily or permanently. Also, for those who have stayed, there are those who have taken refuge in other fields after losing their job in a restaurant or hotel, and now they no longer want to give up night jobs and weekends unnecessary work. “Their greater stability, better balance between personal and professional life, and the constant changes in the rules that have left them unemployed for the past 18 months have left them with a psychological identity.”

This is the situation of Andrea Barbu. “I worked in a restaurant, but After re-opening The environment was very different. The bosses spent the whole day with threats because they had less staff and they made us work harder, “says this young Romanian woman. In October, I went to a real estate company as a cleaning supervisor. Gives, the atmosphere is good; it has nothing to do with gastronomy, “he says. “If it weren’t for the epidemic, it would have been hard for me to leave the restaurant,” he admits.

Registration Here Get the EL PAÍS Brazil Daily Newsletter: Reports, analyzes, exclusive interviews and important news of the day in your email from Monday to Friday. Registration Receive our weekly newsletter on Saturdays, with highlights of the week’s coverage.