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Hanover (dpa / lni) - The long-awaited reopening is likely to have an unpleasant downside for a number of hoteliers and restaurateurs: Many companies in Lower Saxony are now lacking workers after all those months in lockdown.
Rainer Balke, head of the German Hotel and Restaurant Association (Dehoga), estimates that it could be difficult, at least in the short term, to get enough staff to start up again from next week.
Because of the hitherto unclear prospects, "a not inconsiderable part of the employees have shifted to other areas of employment," said Balke of the German press agency. "It is highly uncertain whether these can be recovered after restarting." The Federal Employment Agency (BA) also considers the personnel situation in the industry to be rather difficult at the moment.
According to Balke, the vast majority of around 100,000 employees in the hospitality industry who are subject to social security contributions are still on short-time work.
The prospects are particularly shaky, however, if you look at the situation of the 100,000 or so people in marginal employment.
Quite a few had to be financially supported or slipped into Hartz IV.
Companies noticed “that the pressure to reorient these employees was even greater and that an unforeseeable part of them had left their employment”.
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BA regional head Johannes Pfeiffer explained: “Even before Corona, skilled workers were scarce in some places.
I expect some of the proven employees to orientate themselves differently in the meantime and not return. "
Now a “competition for the best workers” is likely to begin for the companies.
According to labor market statistics, there are currently around ten times more jobseekers than vacancies in the hotel and catering industry.
Pfeiffer suspects that this will "change very quickly" - the shortage of skilled workers is likely to strike right now.
"We are assuming that with the openings to be expected, considerably more companies want to fill their orphaned jobs again," he said.
"Then it can sometimes be difficult again."
On the North Sea coast there were already indications that there would also be shortages of seasonal workers.
With the failure of the Easter business in April, the majority of these employees were already looking for work elsewhere or in other sectors such as retail.
This staff is now lacking in the hospitality industry on the islands and on the mainland.
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Lower Saxony wants to start easing with a step-by-step plan from next Monday.
In districts and cities with a stable seven-day incidence below 100, tourism should be possible under certain conditions - initially only for guests from Lower Saxony.
It should be possible to offer overnight stays in hotels, holiday apartments and campsites, but with a capacity limit of 60 percent and linked to corona tests or a vaccination certificate.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210506-99-487531 / 2