The hospitality sector has accounted for 53% of all job losses in the UK since the budget, new data shows.
According to new analysis of Office for National Statistics jobs data by UKHospitality, of the 164,641 job losses in the UK since last October, almost 89,000 have been lost in hospitality.
The scale of job losses is three times worse than estimated by the Office for Budget Responsibility, which predicted 50,000 job losses as a direct result of changes to employer NICs.
The trade group also found that one in 25 jobs in hospitality had been lost – representing 4.1% of all jobs in the sector.
The percentage of job losses within hospitality, as a proportion of its total workforce, is seven times larger than the rate of the wider UK economy.
As a result, UKHospitality continues to call for action at the budget this autumn, urging the government to lower business rates, fix NICs and cut VAT.
“More than half of all job losses since October occurring in hospitality is further evidence that our sector has been by far the hardest hit by the government’s regressive tax increases,” said UKHospitality chair Kate Nicholls.
“The sheer scale of costs being placed upon hospitality has forced businesses to take agonisingly tough decisions to cut jobs – with part-time and flexible roles often those most at risk.
“At a time when the country needs jobs, the government should be encouraging hospitality to grow and create jobs, not tax them out of existence.”
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