Countries across the world have been hard-hit by the pandemic, with 2020 and the first half of 2021 being characterised by extended periods of lockdowns and severe travel restrictions. While 62 million Travel & Tourism jobs were lost in 2020, the proactive action of some governments around the world has effectively enabled the sector to save millions of jobs and livelihoods at risk through retention schemes.
Whilst the issue of staff shortages has been accentuated by the COVID-19 pandemic, its impact could delay the travel and overall economic recovery; hence the critical need to address this issue. As demand for travel and jobs starts to rise, a sufficient labour force is required to fill the available vacancies and enable the sector to recover.
WTTC’s analysis of staff shortages, in collaboration with Oxford Economics, covers six countries, namely the UK, the US, Spain, France, Italy and Portugal, and focuses on H2 (July-December) 2021 and 2022, looking at the period when travel restrictions start to ease, and as demand once again picks up. Results reveal staff shortages across the six countries analysed, with employment demand starting to outstrip the available labour supply. As unemployment rates decrease due to the rising demand, Travel & Tourism businesses are struggling to fill available job vacancies. One contributing factor to rising staff shortages is that a number of furloughed or laid-off Travel & Tourism employees moved to other sectors or out of the labour force entirely during the crisis.
Countries across the world have been hard-hit by the pandemic, with 2020 and the first half of 2021 being characterised by extended periods of lockdowns and severe travel restrictions. While 62 million Travel & Tourism jobs were lost in 2020, the proactive action of some governments around the world has effectively enabled the sector to save millions of jobs and livelihoods at risk through retention schemes.
Whilst the issue of staff shortages has been accentuated by the COVID-19 pandemic, its impact could delay the travel and overall economic recovery; hence the critical need to address this issue. As demand for travel and jobs starts to rise, a sufficient labour force is required to fill the available vacancies and enable the sector to recover.
WTTC’s analysis of staff shortages, in collaboration with Oxford Economics, covers six countries, namely the UK, the US, Spain, France, Italy and Portugal, and focuses on H2 (July-December) 2021 and 2022, looking at the period when travel restrictions start to ease, and as demand once again picks up. Results reveal staff shortages across the six countries analysed, with employment demand starting to outstrip the available labour supply. As unemployment rates decrease due to the rising demand, Travel & Tourism businesses are struggling to fill available job vacancies. One contributing factor to rising staff shortages is that a number of furloughed or laid-off Travel & Tourism employees moved to other sectors or out of the labour force entirely during the crisis.
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