Abstract

The hospitality industry (accommodation and catering) is an industry in which staff turnover was significantly higher than in other industries even before the corona pandemic. During the Corona crisis, the number of people entering employment in particular plummeted. It is striking that the corona-related decline in employment in the group of mini-jobbers is significantly higher than among employees subject to social insurance contributions, particularly in the catering industry. We can also show that after the end of the Corona crisis, there are significantly more unskilled workers employed in the catering industry than before the pandemic. Qualified workers in particular left the industry during the lockdown. Companies are now finding it increasingly difficult to acquire skilled workers and are increasingly relying on semi-skilled and unskilled employees. In addition to the status of employees in the hospitality industry in Berlin and Brandenburg, we examine the sector changes differentiated according to the alternative sectors chosen. Even before the pandemic, employee turnover rates were higher in the catering industry than in accommodation. In Berlin, during the Corona crisis, only two thirds of the employees in the catering industry remained in their industry. At the same time, the proportion of people who are no longer employed has increased. In accommodation, the dynamic of change is less. In Brandenburg, on the other hand, the number of employees leaving the catering industry during the Corona crisis was significantly lower, despite higher seasonal fluctuations. There are hardly any industry changes in accommodation during the Corona crisis. The pandemic-related alternative sectors for former employees from the accommodation and catering sectors are retail and, to some extent, postal and courier services, building maintenance, social services (excluding homes) and the healthcare sector. After the pandemic, normalization began in both Berlin and Brandenburg. The change rates in accommodation and catering were even lower than before the Corona crisis.