Fatal consequences for employees: restaurant sales almost halved during the crisis


Fatal consequences for employees
Gastro sales almost halved during the crisis

The lockdown is leaving deep scars, especially in the hospitality industry. The industry loses around 47 percent of its usual income in the Corona months. Accommodation companies are hit even harder. As a result, a large number of employees are given notice or are on short time.

The turnover of hotels, restaurants and cafes in Germany has almost halved since the beginning of the Corona crisis. From March 2020 to January 2021, income in the hospitality industry fell by 47.1 percent compared to the same period in the previous year, according to the Federal Statistical Office. “Since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020, there has not been a month in which sales in the hospitality industry have returned to the level of the respective month of the previous year,” it said.

In hotels and other accommodation providers, the loss in turnover was even higher at 54.8 percent. The slump in the hospitality industry was particularly high in the lockdown months of April and December at 74.7 and 71.1 percent, respectively. During this time, the restaurants were closed except for pick-up and delivery offers, hotels were only allowed to accommodate business travelers. The loss of sales also led to a decline in the number of employees in the hospitality industry.

These have fallen by 19.2 percent since March 2020. While hotels, inns and guesthouses reported a decline of 17.8 percent, it was significantly more pronounced in the drinks area at 38.9 percent. “It should be noted that short-time workers continue to count as employees,” explained the statistical office.

Employees in the hospitality industry receive gross hourly earnings below the low wage threshold more often than in any other economic sector. The latest results come from 2018: The low wage threshold was 11.05 euros gross per hour. “At that time, 66 percent of all jobs in the hospitality industry were below the low-wage threshold,” according to statisticians. The hospitality industry generated sales of 98.3 billion euros in 2018. More than two thirds of this went to catering and a third to accommodation providers.

The industry consists mainly of smaller companies with few employees: 72 percent of the more than 232,000 companies had fewer than ten employees. A total of 2.4 million people were recently employed in the hospitality industry, three quarters of them in the catering industry. 58 percent worked part-time.

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