Dehoga is placing great hopes in the immigration reform announced by the federal government and in resolving the labor shortage through targeted immigration.

German hospitality associations sounded the alarm on Thursday over the major shortage of workers in this sector.

“We are currently missing over 50,000 workers in restaurants, cafés, and hotels, and with the arrival of spring we expect a further increase in this number,” said Germany’s professional association of restaurateurs and hoteliers, Dehoga.

Although a large number of workers who sought jobs in another sector during the pandemic, such as retail and logistics, have returned to hospitality, the labor shortage is still a major problem.

Dehoga is placing great hopes in the immigration reform announced by the federal government and in resolving the labor shortage through targeted immigration.

“We need legal options for the targeted import of labor from countries outside the European Union,” Dehoga said.

Representatives of the hospitality workers’ union believe that the problem lies in poor working conditions for workers in this sector, above all in low wages.

“The beginning and end of the discussion about having enough workers comes down to the wages of hospitality employees, which are often at the level of the minimum hourly wage or only slightly above that amount,” said Guido Zeitler, president of the NGG hospitality workers’ union.

An NGG survey among its members showed that two thirds of employees in hospitality do not see a long-term future for themselves in this sector.

Zeitler believes that in the long term this could bring additional problems to hospitality and the hotel industry.

According to him, minimum monthly wages in hospitality should initially amount to at least 3,000 euros gross.

Source: poslovni.hr