Prying Open Fortress Europe by Caviedes Alexander;

Author:Caviedes, Alexander;
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-7391-3321-7
Publisher: Lexington Books

SPECIAL RECOGNITION OF LOW SKILL NEEDS IN HOSPITALITY

Though the growth of the British hospitality industry’s labor force from 1993 to 2002 did not match that of Germany, the increase of 17 percent outpaced the 11 percent overall growth of the general labor market (Eurostat 1993, 2002). Even after the downturn in the global economy following the burst of the dot-com bubble, the tourism-damping effects of the SARS virus, and September 11th, the United Kingdom continued to experience labor shortages in the hospitality industry (Burns 2003).

Aliens (the British term for non-Commonwealth foreigners) played an increasingly important role in the hospitality labor force in the 1950s, when the percentage of all permits issued to hotels and restaurants rose from 7 to 13 percent within five years. Though this is considerable growth, the largest number of aliens—over 40 percent—were still employed in domestic service at this time (Unit for Manpower Studies 1977, 97). Together with the fact that less than 15 percent of permit holders went to industry and commerce, this is a clear indication that either the business community’s needs were satisfied by Commonwealth workers, or that industry was not yet adept at utilizing the mechanism of the work permit. In the 1960s, the reliance of the hospitality industry on work permits progressed relentlessly, to the point that in 1971, 36 percent of all permits were issued to workers in hospitality, a larger percentage than went to industry and commerce (and far larger than domestic services which had shrunk to less than 16 percent of permits).

The progressing reliance on foreign labor in hospitality was halted with the passage of the 1971 Immigration Law and the accompanying provision that unskilled labor no longer qualified for work permits. These provisions were phased in gradually after January 1, 1972, so that the number of permits going to hospitality declined rapidly from the highpoint of 21,633 in 1970, to a mere 6,669 four years later (Unit for Manpower Studies 1977, 67).20 Employers, however, were able to weather this policy turnabout since it occurred roughly in concert with the United Kingdom’s entry into the European Economic Community. So although the work permit avenue had been curtailed, 14 percent of the workforce in hospitality remained foreign-born. This was the highest percentage for any sector, even higher than in the next most “foreign” branch: national health care. The industry was able to take advantage of accession—in 1974, one out of every four EC workers in the United Kingdom was employed in the hotel and catering industry—yet this did not completely satisfy the demand for labor in the industry, and so a separate contingent of permits continued to be reserved for unskilled hotel and restaurant workers.

By 1983, the percent of hospitality workers who were foreigners had declined to between 4 and 5 percent where it remained until the mid-1990s (SOPEMI 1984, 24; SOPEMI 1995, 36). In 1994, only 320 permits were granted to workers in hospitality, representing a paltry 1 percent of the total permits issued. However, the strong economic

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