Bars and restaurants have difficulty hiring employees

Research carried out with 2,586 thousand entrepreneurs in the bar and restaurant sector across the country by the Brazilian Association of Bars and Restaurants (Abrasel) revealed the sector’s difficulty in hiring more specialized professionals, such as sushi chef, pizzaiolo and barbecue chef. They are the most sought after and have the highest pay.

The study also indicated that 35% of business owners intended to hire employees by the end of this year, but complained about a lack of professional training.

According to Abrasel’s content coordinator, José Eduardo Camargo, this Thursday (21), the majority of candidates are looking for their first job, with lower qualifications.

“The most available vacancies are for kitchen assistants and customer service assistants. But we are even getting these vacancies [preencher], because the sector has a profile for training these people. They start as kitchen assistants and then grow”,

indicated.

On the other hand, the greatest difficulty is finding specialized and trained personnel, especially chefs, sushi chef and manager, jobs that require more qualifications, explained Camargo.

Entrepreneurship

Abrasel’s content leader highlighted that, during the Covid-19 pandemic, many professionals left the sector and started entrepreneurship.

“We see this in the number of companies in our segment, which is at the highest level in history,” he added. Today, there are 1.560 million companies in the country, compared to 1.2 million in 2019. Many of these new companies are owned by professionals who worked in the segment and left to start their own business during the pandemic as a matter of necessity. Either because they lost their jobs in companies that closed or because they decided to start a business to be closer to the neighborhood where they live, due to isolation, among other factors”,

highlighted Camargo.

“Part of this contingent has not yet returned to the sector as workers. This explains why the number of companies has grown a lot”,

he stated. He also highlighted that the number of companies with higher revenues is growing again and they have a demand for more specialized professionals.

Wage

José Eduardo Camargo also informed that this is also reflected in the sector’s average salary, which increased by 9.9% in the last 12 months, when the Brazilian average reached just over 3%. “In other words, the average salary rose three times more than the average salary in Brazil. This is a very positive point. It is a difficult factor for our sector but it has a positive side: demand is greater because our segment is stronger after the pandemic, compared to everything we suffered during the pandemic”, he argued.

To make up for the lack of more qualified professionals, the solution is to train existing professionals and those just entering the market.

“Abrasel is very committed, together with other entities and partners from the private sector, regarding qualification programs. There are several qualification initiatives in the states. Abrasel is determined to help entrepreneurs qualify employees who are already in the sector”,

he added.

According to the research, on a scale of zero to five, the difficulty in hiring a manager, for example, is 4.40. The difficulty in hiring someone for a waiter position is 3.66, on the same scale from zero to five.

Aggravation

The president of the Union of Bars and Restaurants of Rio de Janeiro (SindRio), Fernando Blower, confirmed that the difficulty in hiring qualified professionals was already occurring in the sector, but became worse during the pandemic. “And this is now extending due to an economic recovery that requires more hiring. As the sector has been recovering, it is also hiring more. By doing this, the difficulty that already existed becomes more evident”, he explained.

With the pandemic, some specialized workers changed branches, cities and even states.

“There was a process of disarticulation of this work chain throughout 2020 and 2021. Thus, there was a process of structural difficulty in technical training for the job market. Institutions such as SindRio itself and the National Commercial Learning Service (Senac) work towards this qualification and train more than two thousand students each year. “But still, demand is greater than supply,”

emphasized.

Portfolio

SindRio encompasses everything from school canteens and fast truck (food trucks) to large global food chains fast food (fast food). Based on data from the General Register of Employed and Unemployed Persons (Caged), the union found, in the last survey in October, that 10.5 thousand jobs were created in the state of Rio de Janeiro since January this year. Bars and restaurants. In October, the hiring pace was lighter, with the creation of just 228 jobs. Fernando Blower clarified that the businesses most impacted by tourism, such as those in coastal regions, for example, are the ones that hire the most.

The president of the Union of Employees in Bars, Restaurants, Bars and Similar Services of Salvador and the Metropolitan Region (SindBares-BA), Brasilina Neta, informed that issues related to hiring are the responsibility of the employers’ unions. But she made it clear that jobs in the sector “have to be with an employment contract”, that is, formal, with a formal contract.

Centers in favelas

This year, Abrasel created four centers in Brazilian favelas, starting with the communities Dendê, in Fortaleza, Vergel do Lago, in Maceió, Aglomerado da Serra, in Belo Horizonte, and Bairro da Paz, in Salvador. For 2024, the idea is to open at least 11 more centers.

José Eduardo Camargo also informed that the creation of these Abrasel centers has to do with strengthening entrepreneurship in communities.

“You have a super positive cycle because, the more people enter into the sector, the more people we bring to work”,

he pondered.

He also said that the segment has an important characteristic, because it not only provides the first job for many people, but it is also a hotbed of entrepreneurship.

“It is very common for people to start working as a waiter, in the kitchen, manage to save some money and open a business in their own sector. It is a very strong characteristic and contributes to increasing employment in the area. It’s a virtuous cycle,”

highlighted.

Camargo assured that the goal is to improve and strengthen entrepreneurship, which “is a means of improving the country, strengthening the middle class, increasing the population’s consumption power and taking people out of insecurity.”

*With information from consultancy

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