COMP NEWS – A recent survey found that nearly one-third of former workers in the hospitality industry won’t even consider returning there. Many previous employees cited low compensation and lackluster benefits as reasons for the change.
Massive lay-offs, remote working, and caring responsibilities have forced thousands of Americans to consider switching their careers during the pandemic. Some were forced out of their roles because their employers downsized or even shut down during the pandemic. Others have been “rage quitting” in search of better pay and conditions.
Half of former hospitality workers said that they wouldn’t return to their previous job in the industry, according to the survey. A third of former hospitality workers said they weren’t even considering reentering the industry, according to Joblist’s second-quarter survey of around 13,000 job seekers, first reported by Bloomberg.
The Joblist survey found that around 20% of those hospitality workers sought jobs with more flexibility, with almost as many seeking employment that would let them work remotely.
While the hospitality sector has seen increases in its compensation and benefits to accommodate worker demand, for many of those workers it just hasn’t been enough.
Traditionally, the hospitality sector pays much lower wages than other industries. The average pay for hourly workers in non-supervisory roles in the leisure and hospitality sector was $16.21 in June, compared to $25.68 across private non-farm payrolls, per the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)’s June jobs report.
Average pay for hourly workers in non-supervisory roles in the leisure and hospitality sector jumped from $15.84 an hour in May to $16.21 in June, BLS data shows. It typically takes a whole year for wages to grow this much, The Washington Post reported.
The leisure and hospitality sector added 343,000 jobs in June – but total employment across the sector is still down by 2.2 million, or 12.9%, from February 2020.
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