The hospitality industry is ageing in Spain with four out of ten workers over 45 years of age
The hotel and catering industry and its workers evolve with society. Therefore, if we take into account that the most outstanding feature of the current Spanish population is rampant ageing, it is obvious that one of the main economic activities is affected by this demographic situation.
Employment in the hotel and catering sector is facing a serious challenge of generational replacement at a time of particular activity, after recovering pre-pandemic levels and with forecasts for a record summer. In a reflection of the country’s demographic situation, the 345 and 44 year-old employment group, until recently the most representative, is beginning to be overtaken by the 45 and 54 year-olds in several of the last quarters.
As shown by the latest data from the Randstad report ‘Labour market in the hospitality sector’, this population segment reached 384,510 workers in the hospitality sector at the end of the first quarter of 2023. A figure that, in proportion, represents 24% of the total 1.56 million workers. If the 269,417 employed persons over 55 years of age are added, those over 45 years of age amount to 653,927 and account for four out of every ten employees in the current hospitality workforce.
This evolution offers clear evidence of ageing in the sector, as nearly 50% of employment is in the 35-54 age bracket, 63% if those over 55 are included.
This is a problem that is accentuated by the year-on-year loss of the 16-24 age group, which stands at 200,529 employees, barely 12% of the total. Despite the fact that the hotel and catering industry has historically served as a natural pool for young people, the lack of labour is due to the inversion of the population pyramid and a lower interest in working in the activity.
The report highlights that the 45+ age groups account for 47% of employment in accommodation services, with a year-on-year loss of employment. Here the 35-44 age group is the largest with 100,918 employed (28%), while young people aged 16-34 account for 25% (93,504).
On the other hand, in food and beverages, the distribution is fairly balanced between the different age groups, with the 55+ age group accounting for almost a quarter (289,005), as well as the 45-54 age group (284,207).
Youth employment in catering reached 32% (382,967), with a year-on-year loss of 4.7% among 16-24 year-olds. However, the biggest fall in this respect corresponds to the 35 to 44 year-old segment, with 13 points less than a year ago.
Regardless of age, the sector is clearly dominated by salaried employment, with a salaried employment rate of 81%, somewhat below average. A total of 1,041,355 salaried workers were employed in the hospitality industry in the first quarter of 2023 on permanent contracts.
“The permanent-discontinuous phenomenon has had a major impact on the sector, reaching record highs. The number of employees hired under this type of contract continues to have a significant weight in the hotel and catering sector, close to 13% of permanent employees,” says Valentín Bote, director of Randstad Research.
This firm stresses that the hotel and catering industry is a sector with a temporary employment rate of around the average (17.2%), after having been considerably reduced as a result of the labour reform. In the first quarter of the year, the number of people in permanent employment grew year-on-year by more than 20% in the two segments that make up the sector.
