With the numbers unemployed rising and jobs lost in their thousands in the hospitality sector it was expected that workers would be struggling to find new roles in 2021.
But instead it is businesses in hospitality and tourism who are reporting problems with recruitment - with some warning it could impact their ability to fully trade this year.
There are various reasons being reported including uncertainty over the pandemic hit sectors with no definite reopening date for indoor tourism and hospitality in Wales, and workers previously made redundant moving to other industries.
Brexit has also impacted on the ability of some businesses to bring in workers from the EU while some people who would normally be looking for new opportunities are on furlough.
Owain Williams, who owns Plas yn Dre Hotel and Restaurant, chip shop Badell Aur and Y Tŷ Coffi, all in Bala, said: “With the reopening of Welsh hospitality fast-approaching we are finding it increasingly difficult to find extra staff to be able to cope with the influx of increased visitors we’re expecting.
“With three long-established catering businesses in the town we need to expand our teams. Our core team members who have remained dedicated and most who have been with us for several years are eager to get up and running again and in full swing again.
“However we need an extra 25-35 members of staff to cover the seasonal increases this year.
“Normally we would not have any issues at all recruiting. We would usually receive several applicants for each job posted. We try and recruit through local adverts, word of mouth and social media, yet this is the most unsuccessful response we have had to a recruitment push in over 12 years.
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“People are just not applying for these positions and I don’t understand why. This will have a huge negative effect on our ability to trade this season and will limit us to the amount of covers we can do, and believe you me when I say if we ever needed a good year it’s this year.”
Dave Chapman, 海角视频Hospitality Cymru’s executive director, said: “This is a definite short-term problem for a lot of our businesses in some areas of employment.
“In the past 13 months hospitality businesses have haemorrhaged money and have been forced to lose a proportion of staff to redundancy.
“A further proportion have moved to other industries who have been open and busy throughout the Covid-19 crisis and who have recruited while we have been forced to close and so offered our workers and their families security in a difficult time.”
He says longer term, with a new industry-led Hospitality Skills Partnership in place, the situation will improve - but the “next few months will be challenging”.
Restaurant chain Dylan’s also reported a fall in the usual interest in jobs on offer, citing the ongoing uncertainty in the sector
Holiday chain Haven, which has three parks in Gwynedd and Denbighshire, was also reporting difficulties filling vacancies.
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A spokeswoman said: “The last year has been tough for people and we know with the uncertainty of the world that while people may have lost their jobs there could be apprehension in selecting your next role, especially for people who may be looking for flexibility, needing to work around family, children and have needed to make lifestyle changes during the pandemic.”
They said though there were a host of flexible vacancies on offer that can then lead to full time permanent contracts for workers.
The brand urged people to “help thousands of British holidaymakers have a great time with us”. They are also on the 海角视频 Government’s Kickstart programme which provides new job placements for 16 to 24 year olds on Universal Credit.
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