Hospitality industry: Homemade shortage of skilled workers, please!

dossier

“Pubs, restaurants and cafés are opening again - but there is a lack of staff. For too long, employers in the hospitality industry have relied on low wages, precarious work and poor care of young talent. Now many skilled workers have fled. (…) However, too much pity would be exaggerated. For years, employers in the hospitality industry have done little to improve their own attractiveness. The shortage of skilled workers is primarily of our own making! Keyword pay: Due to collective bargaining evasion, not even four out of ten employees benefit from a collective agreement. With an average gross hourly wage paid of 13.43 euros, the industry was clearly in last place in Lower Saxony in 2019 - the last year before Corona (see graphic). This means that even under normal circumstances there is little money left for the staff to live on…”#schlaglicht 22/2021 from June 10th, 2021 at the DGB Lower Saxony – see:

• NGG survey: VAT gift evaporates, employees at the limit (“staff is on the edge”), the hospitality industry under pressure
  “The four billion dollar VAT cut for the catering industry has failed to achieve its political goal. Although the federal government wanted to ease the burden on guests, according to a price study, only around one percent of the more than 180,000 dishes examined were cheaper. At the same time, frustration is growing among employees in the industry: 71 percent have already thought about leaving the hospitality industry. This is shown by a nationwide employee survey by the Food-Gourmet-Gaststätten union (NGG) and the price study presented today in Berlin.
  The price study carried out by wmp consult on behalf of NGG showed that 91 percent of prices remained unchanged, while around eight percent saw price increases. Bowls (14 percent), schnitzel (11 percent) and steaks (10 percent) were particularly expensive. On average, prices rose by 0.5 percent. Only one percent of the dishes were discounted. Restaurant guests do not benefit from the VAT reduction.
  NGG chairman Guido Zeitler draws a sobering conclusion: "The federal government also wanted to reduce the burden on guests with the VAT reduction. In fact, none of this has reached consumers. There is a clear gap between political aspirations and reality." It is also critical that the employees have not yet benefited from the tax gift for the industry. In the ongoing collective bargaining negotiations with the German Hotel and Restaurant Association (DEHOGA), the NGG is experiencing a major blockade on wage increases.
  Zeitler is therefore calling for a change of course: "The industry cannot permanently benefit from government support while the employees are left empty-handed. If you want to attract and retain skilled workers, you have to offer better wages and better working conditions instead of questioning the eight-hour day."  The current NGG employee survey shows how urgent the need for action is. It paints a picture of an industry in which many employees are working at their limits and are still worried about their financial existence.
  Staff is on the fence
  The NGG survey of more than 2,000 employees shows a high level of stress in many companies. Almost every second person surveyed regularly works eight to ten hours a day, ten percent even longer. Three quarters of employees cannot recover sufficiently after long working days. 79 percent report short-term roster changes that make it difficult to balance work, family and private life. Against this background, 96 percent of those surveyed are in favor of limiting the maximum daily working hours…”NGG press release from September 17, 2026 with more information about the study
• Every sixth job in Germany is paid low wages. Particularly affected: the hospitality industry with more than half of all jobs.
  “The low-wage sector in the German economy has recently stopped shrinking. In April 2025, 6.3 million people worked for an hourly wage of a maximum of 14.32 euros, as the Federal Statistical Office announced. This corresponds to a share of 16 percent of all jobs, as was determined a year earlier. In April 2014, the proportion of low-wage jobs was still 21 percent and fell primarily in 2022 and 2023. (…) More than half (51 percent) of jobs in the hospitality industry belong to the low-wage sector, as the Federal Office further announced. Little is also paid in agriculture, forestry and fishing, with a share of 45 percent. In the areas of art, entertainment and recreation, a good one in three (36 percent) receives a low wage…”Agency report from December 5th, 2025 in the FR online (“6.3 million people work for low wages”)Destatis press release from December 5, 2025 : Proportion of low-wage jobs in April 2025 unchanged at 16%5. December 2025
• The “shortage of skilled workers” in catering companies is also self-inflicted
  "The complaints about the shortage of skilled workers in the hospitality industry are unmistakable and there seems to be no improvement in sight. As the business-oriented competence center for securing skilled workers at the Institute of German Economy reports, the almost 44,000 vacancies for skilled workers in hotel and restaurant professions are compared to only a good 29,000 appropriately qualified and registered unemployed people. The hotel industry is particularly affected, where 42.8 percent of the vacancies currently cannot be filled with suitably qualified unemployed people In the catering industry in general, this applies to 40.1 percent of the vacancies. The gap is greatest in the chef profession, where a total of 7,555 skilled workers are required. (…) Tax benefits and direct state aid are once again required for the catering industry To expose themselves to miserable working conditions and often have up to 100 percent of the personnel costs reimbursed from public funds. Last year, around 1 billion euros flowed into the catering sector as a state wage subsidy. Accompanied by public complaining, the catering sector is constantly developing new ideas to reduce personnel costs or even prevent them from occurring at all, on the back of its workforce. In the hospitality industry, over 60 percent of employees still work in the low-wage sector employees.For many years, the lower wage groups in both sub-sector collective agreements (system catering and the hotel and restaurant industry) were also below the low wage threshold. The 12.00 euros required in the last round of collective bargaining will only be available for the approximately 120,000 employees in collective bargaining group 2 from December 1, 2023, mind you only for employees in the few collectively agreed companies. For more than two decades, people in the catering sector have been working almost exclusively with mini-jobs, with earnings that people cannot live on and have to apply for unemployment benefit II from the job centers to top it up. (…) In 2023 there were around 3.92 million recipients of citizen's benefit. Of these, 810,436 were so-called “employed, employable benefit recipients” or also known as supplementers or top-ups. This corresponds to around 20 percent of employable benefit recipients. According to information from the Federal Agency's (BA) ongoing analysis of basic security for job seekers, the number of dependent workers who received unemployment benefit II payments in addition to their earned income was 810,436 at the end of 2023. (…) The unions need to pay much more attention to people in precarious employment. They can and should organize themselves, not remain dissatisfied and isolated, but rather come together democratically and also in the name of human rights. In addition, they should get union support, so they can further strengthen their position and therefore have greater legal support.” Post from August 15, 2024 in unionsforum.de 
• Industry analysis of the hospitality industry 2023: “Employees desperately wanted”? Wages have to go up, working hours have to go down
  “New study by the NGG union and the Hans Böckler Foundation Guido Zeitler: “The hospitality industry now needs a restart: wages have to go up, working hours have to go down.”
  The study “Industry analysis of the hospitality industry: employment development, working conditions and perspectives against the background of Corona and the minimum wage” presented today in Berlin and prepared on behalf of the Food-Genuss-Gaststätten (NGG) union and the Hans Böckler Foundation shows an urgent need for action in the industry. Many companies are desperately looking for skilled workers and personnel. This trend threatens to get even worse: More than a third (34%) of the employees surveyed as part of the industry analysis see their professional future outside of the hospitality industry.Wages that are too low, a lack of appreciation, difficult to plan and excessively long working hours, a lack of staff and high levels of psychological and physical stress are everyday life in the hospitality industry. More than 300,000 employees left the industry during the corona pandemic. In their study, the two scientists Katrin Schmid and Dr. Stefan Stracke, that this gap that arose in the Corona crisis was filled primarily by mini-jobbers and unskilled workers. (…) Guido Zeitler, chairman of the NGG union: "The industry now needs a jolt. The hospitality industry needs a new start: wages have to go up, working hours have to go down. Collective bargaining agreements must finally apply to everyone. The times of exploitation are over - if this signal is not given, we will be faced with closed doors even more often in the future due to a lack of staff. With training under their belt, aspiring cooks and restaurant or hotel specialists have to start with at least 3,000 euros gross can calculate.”“NGG press release from October 17, 2023 , see also: 
  • New industry analysis: Hospitality industry: Better working conditions needed to overcome labor shortages
    “The corona crisis has hit the hospitality industry hard. Many employees have looked for other jobs. Without better working conditions, they will not come back - and the industry will generally not become more attractive for workers. In addition to further improvements in pay, predictable work organization plays an important role, according to a new study for the Hans Böckler Foundation…”HBS press release from October 17, 2023 for the examination by Katrin Schmid and Dr. Stefan Stracke:“Industry analysis of the hospitality industry” on behalf of the Food-Pleasure-Gastronomy Union (NGG) and the Hans Böckler Foundation
  • The little NGG with the really big ones. Union presents “Industry Analysis of the Hospitality Industry” in the “Steigenberger am Kanzleramt”
    “The hospitality industry has scraped by after the pandemic, at the expense of long-suffering employees. This result of an “industry analysis” was presented on Tuesday in Berlin by the NGG (Nahrung Genuss Gaststätten) union and the Hans Böckler Foundation. After averting a wave of bankruptcies through billions in aid, the number of companies is higher than before Corona. The sales record of 2019 is also within reach. And there are 100,000 fewer employees in the catering industry.So the burden has increased. The same goes for the proportion of mini-jobbers, which is now 55 percent – ​​more than in any other industry. Almost half of these marginally employed people have at least one other job. Three years ago it was just under a third. And the proportion of top-ups who also receive social benefits is only higher in the cleaning industry.The gastronomy misery is usually compensated for with the minimum wage: when it was increased to twelve euros a year ago, at least 50 percent of those employed subject to social security contributions and 88 percent of mini-jobbers benefited from it. As is well known, the increase has long since been eaten up by inflation.
    NGG boss Guido Zeitler presented a map with gross wages. In the holiday region of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania it is 2,076 euros per month, in Brandenburg 2,242 euros and nowhere can you get more than the 2,622 euros in Bavaria - and these are only the wages that are paid where unions were able to enforce a collective agreement. This is the case in only one in five restaurants (in 2010 the proportion was 37 percent). Nationwide, 48 percent of companies are still bound by collective agreements (…)The conditions in smaller companies are particularly dire, says Zeitler. Many entrepreneurs there “do not care whether trainees stay – the next ones will come in two years.” Larger chains are less anti-union. But since the situation is now becoming more difficult and more “price sensitive,” a certain “consolidation process” is probably inevitable. The big ones eat the little ones. The NGG boss hopes that this could bring back “a certain order in the world of work”.His call for a “new start in social partnership” was consistent with this. And the venue also fit in, the “Steigenberger – Hotel am Kanzleramt”, which is not at the Chancellery at all, but directly at the main train station. It's about an ideal closeness. Following the press round, in which the journalists were only concerned with company balance sheets, a very select buffet was opened. There were no waiters to be seen.Zeitler had previously explained to the group that you could call a mini bar robot here at the Steigenberger and it would bring your order to your room at some point. But that's not the solution overall: "You need people in this industry!"
    A works council member from the hotel chain also saw it that way in a conversation at the buffet. (…) In order to clean up the industry, Zeitler would like to link the awarding of public contracts to collective bargaining, from politicians' get-togethers to catering to overnight stays on business trips. Steigenberger and Co. would be happy about that. But displacing the smaller competitors would allow the reserve army to continue to grow. There is no way through social partnership to aggravate the fundamental contradiction.”Article by Alexander Reich in the young world from October 18, 2023 
• Shortage of staff: “It may take a while” 
  "... In a Neukölln restaurant, the plastic tables are well occupied, a harried waitress brings out conspicuously large schnitzels and beer and clears away empty plates. She greets new guests with an apology: "It may take a while, there is only one person in the kitchen today. I'm sorry," says Sabine, who actually has a different name but would rather not read her name at this point. I ask whether the staffing situation here is as difficult as in all the other shops. She laughs. "It's a catastrophe. Before the There were fifteen of us here during the pandemic. Now there are only three of us." According to the German Hotel and Restaurant Association, or DEHOGA, between 2019 and 2021 (...) The NGG is therefore calling for wage increases. "There is now a need for a paradigm shift in the industry: towards good work," says Riesner. Riesner, on the other hand, doesn't want to hear anything about planning problems with mini-jobs (...) But what will happen to the shops and restaurants if customers actually stop coming because the schnitzel has become a luxury good due to rising wages, energy costs and shop rents (...) Politicians could, for example, reduce the VAT on food served from 19 percent to 7 percent Attempts by the federal government to respond directly to the staff shortage in the catering industry are poor.Labor Minister Hubertus Heil and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (both SPD) recently proposed easier access for foreign skilled workers to the German catering industry. There had previously been a similar regulation for airport employees. This was intended to attract Turkish people in particular to German airport counters. The German recruitment offensive on the Bosphorus made big headlines. There was talk of a monthly wage of 4,000 to 6,000 euros. "Many workers thought that they would emigrate to Germany and stay there," explains Turkey correspondent Emre Eser in the Deutsche Welle program. But the reality looks different. “It is not permanent immigration to Germany,” emphasized Labor Minister Heil. The Turkish workers should only be deployed at German airports for a maximum of three months. They will receive up to 6,000 euros for the local holiday season, and the companies will provide accommodation. (…) Now it is up to the unions to recognize the parallels between catering and air travel. Instead of devising recruitment agreements for foreign seasonal workers, they should address the question of whether now is not the time to declare war on the conditions and salaries of the entire low-wage sector.” Article by Jonas Junack from July 27, 2022 at Jacobin.de 
• The hospitality industry also receives a simplified influx of workers - NGG: missing staff only with better working conditions, integrate refugees fairly!
  • The government also wants to make immigration easier for catering employees
    "... After the special regulation for airport staff, the federal government is also planning a simplified influx of workers from abroad for the hospitality industry. "The labor shortage has become much worse as a result of the pandemic," said Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) in an interview with the German Press Agency. There is a massive shortage of workers and skilled workers in air transport, as well as in the catering and hotel sectors. “Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil and I know that we have to make things easier for foreign workers there.” Together with him, she will therefore propose changes this year “to bring good workers to Germany”. Due to serious bottlenecks at German airports, the federal government promised rapid regulations last Wednesday to make it easier for operators to temporarily hire staff. The workforce, which is missing in baggage handling, among other things, should be recruited primarily in Turkey. (…) It must also be clear that this is not about wage dumping, but rather “about good, collectively agreed jobs that people can make a living from”. The government is on the side of the unions here. Faeser emphasized that on the way to modern immigration law, she was paying “very close attention to balanced solutions and acceptance among the population.” Report from July 4, 2022 in the Süddeutsche Zeitung online – it would of course be important to take a closer look at how migrants are dealt with at the borders on the one hand and the recruitment of foreign workers on the other, see therefore:
  • NGG union: Missing staff can only be found with better working conditions. After Corona, the high season: the hospitality industry must become more attractive for skilled workers
    “The summer season is underway, but in many hotels and restaurants there is a lack of staff to look after the guests: After more than two years of the corona pandemic, the food-pleasure-restaurants union (NGG) speaks of a “stuttering start” in the industry. "A number of companies have already taken compulsory rest days because they lack staff. Because of the lockdown and short-time work, many employees have left the hospitality industry. It is now important to recruit specialists and service staff with good conditions in order to be prepared for the influx of travelers," says NGG chairman Guido Zeitler…”PM dated June 21, 2022 and:
  • Integrate refugees fairly! Working in the hospitality industry:New information videos and flyers from the NGG 
• With “exorbitant salary increases” and flexible working models to combat the staff shortage in the hospitality industry? 
  “…Corona has acted like an accelerant in some industries as there have been large-scale migration movements. The hotel and restaurant sector - which was hit hard by the company closures last year and limited by the requirements even after opening - is a particularly affected employment segment; quite a few have left the companies and reoriented themselves into other sectors. Better pay, better working conditions – then why should you come back? Of course, one or the other could raise the expected objection at this point that the “other” side has to increase wages and improve conditions so that (more) workers come back. Now this is obviously easier written than done. But now we are receiving interesting reports from the hospitality industry. (…) “Hotels and restaurants need to get out of the “low-wage image corner,” association president Gereon Haumann is quoted as saying. A more attractive working environment should be created through higher wages, a better work-life balance and better personnel management in companies. But let's take a closer look. (…) “These exorbitant salary increases in all salary groups lead to corresponding cost increases in personnel budgets of up to 30% and, in addition to other measures, also require a review of the allowances in the collective collective agreement,” says the paper. (…) Of course, you can immediately put the initiative into perspective, also with regard to the wage increases outlined at the beginning that are being discussed.For example, by pointing out that the proposed increase in starting wages for the lowest wage group from currently 9.60 euros to 12 euros merely pre-prices the one-off increase in the statutory minimum wage for the coming year, which was already agreed in the exploratory paper by the currently forming traffic light coalition, into the wage structure. Then of course there have to be corresponding increases above that if you don't want to flatten the gradient too much. However, it is also proposed that the “lowest wage level ... should always be at least 5% above the legal minimum wage in the future”. (…) »DEHOGA Baden-Württemberg is currently offering an increase in wages and salaries of 4.5 percent over 14 months. That would be 10.55 euros in the lowest wage group. When it comes to training allowances, the employers' association offers 800 euros in the 1st year of training, 900 euros in the 2nd year of training and 1,000 in the 3rd year of training." All of this is still a decent step away from what DEHOGA Rhineland-Palatinate had already demanded in its 7-point rescue paper for the industry at the end of August 2021. And that in a federal state that is really not as well equipped as Baden-Württemberg. It will be interesting to see whether this was just a PR measure or whether the negotiations with the NGG union could actually lead to “exorbitant salary increases” in the hospitality industry. Because many low-wage sector employees in the industry would like this.”Post from November 8, 2021 by and at Stefan Sell 
• Exodus in the catering industry
  “Saarland: Food union NGG criticizes precarious wages and working conditions - unpaid overtime, for example. Discounters specifically recruit skilled workers
  It is an exodus movement: around 20 percent of employees in the catering industry left the industry nationwide during the Corona crisis - including in Saarland. An example: In this federal state alone, according to figures from the Federal Employment Agency, out of around 6,500, only around 5,100 colleagues remain in the hospitality and hotel industry, the Food, Enjoyment, Restaurants (NGG) union, Saarland region, recently reported. In short: one in five is gone. Looking for and changing jobs doesn't happen by chance. Numerous chefs, service staff and employees in the hotel industry are suffering from existential hardship. (…) However, it doesn’t affect everyone equally. What is known is that women work more often than average in part-time and mini-jobs - in the catering industry anyway. “Such positions not only make career advancement more difficult, they are usually also significantly lower paid than full-time jobs,” recently noted Baumeister’s NGG colleague Guido Noll, managing director of the Darmstadt and Mainz region. In the Rhineland-Palatinate state capital, the gender pay gap, i.e. the income gap between the sexes, is at least seven percent. After contact restrictions were gradually relaxed, a new trend emerged: overtime. Recently there has been an increasing number of complaints about excessive working hours of up to 60 hours per week, as well as violations of collectively agreed working and remuneration conditions (...) The lack of skilled workers and the practice of poaching are causing Dehoga serious problems. In some places there is simply a lack of staff to guarantee opening hours. This is apparently why there are increasing reports of extra exploitation of employees.In some cases, food discounters have targeted employees from the catering sector in a campaign in order to specifically poach them…”Article by Oliver Rast in the young world from August 6th, 2021 , see also:
• Increased overtime in the hospitality industry – collective agreements and occupational safety laws continue to apply
  “The NGG union, Saar region, complains about an increase in labor law advice in the hospitality industry. Recently there has been an increasing number of complaints about serious violations of working hours and working hours of up to 60 hours per week, as well as violations of collectively agreed working and pay conditions. The NGG points out that in companies that are organized in the German hotel and restaurant association DEHOGA, the collective agreements for the hotel and restaurant industry in Saarland apply in the event of bilateral collective bargaining. (…) in view of the shortage of skilled workers in our core industry, we are observing an increasing number of legal advice with great concern. Our problem here is the companies that are not organized in one of the two employers' associations for the hospitality industry. In our opinion, the vast majority of companies operate in compliance with the law. Working hours of 60 hours per week and violations of the documentation requirement, however, are serious crimes and not trivial offenses.”Press release from NGG Saarland from August 4th, 2021 – can be transferred very safely to all federal states
• see also our dossier:[NGG] Corona crisis in the hospitality industry: Secure income through collective agreements

The postHospitality industry: Homemade shortage of skilled workers, please!appeared firstLabourNet Germany.