With the world slowly rolling out of COVID-19 lockdown measures, most people find themselves feeling desperate to get back to ‘normal’. For plenty, this means travel and going out to enjoy a new café, restaurant or hotel.
The surge in Americans wanting to enjoy a taste of freedom this summer has no doubt led to a rise in the number of jobs in the hospitality sector. While the start of the COVID-19 pandemic was enough to see large numbers of people released from their jobs in the public sector, we are now seeing a boom in the demand for new staff to be hired.
With summer 2020 being a miserable time for most people, the summer of 2021 has provided the first real opportunity to travel and take advantage of hospitality. After being locked inside their homes for long stretches of time, traveling Americans are now creating a summer staffing surge that might breathe more life into the economy.
Staffing Surge in the Hospitality Sector
Back in June, it was reported that the hospitality sector had posted around 1.3 million jobs as a whole. This was done in an effort to anticipate the huge demand that the public would have for enjoying hospitality after spending so long putting up with lockdown restrictions.
Jobs are available in all kinds of hospitality, including hotels, restaurants, baseball stadiums, theme parks etc.
Jobs in the hospitality sector were up 58% on the same time in June 2020, and even went up 28% from pre-pandemic levels. There are now plenty of fantastic short-term opportunities for graduates or those looking to make a side income.
Jobs in Transport
The relaxing of lockdown restrictions naturally means that more Americans will want to travel to see family or go on vacation. With more people looking to make the most of increased freedoms, the Transportation Security Administration announced in February that they were taking measures to recruit 6,000 airport officers before this summer.
Anticipated footfall through airports was expected to be so high that the TSA offered $500 bonuses to applicants who filled out their paperwork within five days.
Some passengers now face up to 45-minute wait times at airport checkpoints due to a combination of a surge in demand and staffing issues.
TSA officers are screening over 1.5 million people each day, and this number is likely to remain steady over the course of the summer if the pandemic does not take hold.
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All parts of the hospitality sector are currently facing similar challenges. Even prestigious resorts like the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess in Arizona are suffering from 200+ unfilled job openings and an increasing labor shortage.
Similarly to the TSA, the Fairmont resort has also begun offering a $500 bonus to new hires.
Ultimately, the rise in demand is a positive thing for the hospitality sector, but there is a lot of work to be done in order to combat this summer staffing surge.