The British “job miracle” becomes an employer’s nightmare – AFR

Job vacancies appear to be a dime a dozen in Keswick, a tourist town in England’s scenic Lake District, as the hospitality sector clamors for staff – shortages critics say are a direct result of the coronavirus pandemic and Brexit.

“Two positions available as in-house cook. Excellent pay,” reads an ad posted in a restaurant window.

“Hire. No experience required,” says another at a fish and chip shop.

Britain’s ruling Conservative Party claims it has created a “jobs miracle” since taking office in 2010, with the national unemployment rate currently at 3.8 per cent, the lowest in almost 50 years.

In fact, that’s better than the International Labor Organization’s definition of “full employment” — an unemployment rate of five percent.

But for Tony Wilson, director of the Institute for Employment Studies, while the current situation in the UK is “the best context for workers in 20 years”, it is not good for the economy as a whole.

The labor shortage “may lead to wage increases and some improvements in employment conditions, but it doesn’t help the economy at all,” he said.

When companies fail to reach their potential, profits and overall growth are hurt, he argued.

Forecasts show that Britain will have the lowest economic growth of any country in the Group of Seven.

Back in Keswick, Alison Lamont, the 60-year-old co-owner of Cafe Relish, has less than a minute to juggle serving and paying.

Since the lifting of the Covid lockdowns, the small restaurant has switched to takeaway service only.

There simply isn’t enough “time to clear the tables,” says Lamont.

Despite attempts to recruit through social media or simply word of mouth, she fails to find the additional staff needed to properly run the cafe.

Young people “all want to be influencers or work from home,” Lamont laments.

“The main impact on family life is that we don’t have weekends together and we don’t have time away, we have to work and work and work,” she tells AFP as her husband, who is preparing the food upstairs, runs downstairs to get one bring sandwich.

Lamont, who greets every customer like an old friend, says she bought the cafe with her husband about a year before Covid hit.

She struggles to sleep some nights and sees no end to the current situation.

“You can only do this for so long,” says Lamont.

Further up the road, the restaurant at the George Hotel had to close for three and a half months this year because it had no chef, costing the company £30,000 ($35,000) a week, a situation not uncommon across the UK.

The London beauty salon owner told AFP she even resorted to a headhunter normally used for senior recruitment to find a beautician – so far without success.

Elsewhere, airlines like British Airways and EasyJet are struggling to rehire staff they laid off by the thousands early in the pandemic.

The result: mass flight cancellations and a situation that will continue to worsen in the coming summer holidays.

The reasons behind Britain’s current labor market woes are largely attributed to the country’s decision to leave the European Union and the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

“Since the economy has reopened … the demand for labor is much greater than that of job seekers, particularly in low-wage and low-skilled sectors” such as cleaning, construction, distribution and warehousing, said Jack Kennedy, UK economist at recruitment group Indeed.

The fallout from Covid has seen almost half a million UK workers exit the labor market, the expert said.

While employment rates are currently “higher than pre-pandemic levels” in both France and Germany, “they are still below pre-pandemic levels in the UK and US,” said Wilson of the IES.

Seasonal farming jobs – which outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson claimed would be filled by Brits after Brexit – remain vacant.

“I don’t think it’s ever been that difficult,” says Derek Wilkinson, managing director of vegetable grower Sandfields Farms in central England.

Before Brexit, the UK farming and construction sectors relied heavily on workers from Central and Eastern Europe, many of whom have since returned home.

Wilkinson, 55, points out that seasonal workers now have to apply for a special visa, which can take up to seven weeks.

According to Indeed economist Kennedy, a total of about 200,000 to 300,000 European workers are missing, including many Ukrainians who have stayed at home to fight in the war against Russia.

With other Eastern Europeans returning to their home countries, which have recently become wealthier, and the British themselves showing little inclination to take on such backbreaking work, many employers are having to look further afield for seasonal workers from the Philippines in southern Africa and Uzbekistan.

Wilkinson said Sandfields Farms, with a staff shortage of 120 in May, had to waste 40,000 kilos of asparagus and 750,000 bunches of green onions.

And that, coupled with the UK’s cost-of-living crisis, means its annual profit will be halved this year.

In order to poach workers, companies must offer better wages and conditions.

Wilkinson has refurbished 400 mobile homes for seasonal workers and a restaurant owner in Keswick has bought a building to house his staff.

Gary Marx, owner of the George Hotel in Keswick, has granted pay rises far in excess of inflation.

Other companies offer different types of perks.

Accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers, for example, allows employees to finish work early on Fridays. But some smaller companies are offering massage and aromatherapy treatments to their employees, while dozens of other companies are testing four-day weeks.

All of this comes at a time when many Britons are completely rethinking their careers.

With many workers on precarious contracts, a million people changed jobs in the last quarter in search of better pay and a better life.

Before her pregnancy, Lorna Roberts, 26, worked in hospitality. But with the birth of her baby and the stress of restaurant work, she transitioned into retail.

“It got harder after lockdown,” says Roberts, who now sells outdoor gear for Alpkit in Keswick.

“A lot of people were rude, we were constantly understaffed,” she says, describing how former colleagues suffered from panic attacks and breakdowns.

Her new, less stressful job also aligns better with her interest in the outdoors. And Roberts says her hourly wages have also gone up.

“I saw an ad outside and just wanted to stop by and ask,” she says, emphasizing the ease with which people can switch jobs in the current climate.

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