National Skills Week’s Chairman Brian Wexham says hospitality employment opportunities have been slow to fill this year despite Australian border restrictions being loosened and the industry recovering.
“The hospitality industry is incredibly diverse and Australian consumers have embraced the growing ‘foodie’ culture, with our tastes around food, drink, accommodation, and experiences becoming more sophisticated. Key occupations include café and restaurant managers, retail managers, bar attendants and baristas, café workers, waiters, sales assistants, receptionists, and Hotel and Motel Managers,” says Brian.
According to employment trends from the Australian Industry and Skills Committee (AISC), employment figures for the food and beverages sector fell dramatically between 2019 and 2020 from 818,900 to 575,400.
The AISC says all hospitality related occupations are projected to show growth to 2025. The strongest growth is expected to be sales assistants at 25 per cent, waiters at 18 per cent and chefs at 16 per cent.
“The [hospitality] industry is coming to the realisation that it has to ‘grow its own’ workforce, so there has never been a better opportunity for young people to embrace the opportunity to work in the sector, access formal training and gain skills that will set them up for life regardless of what pathway they take,” says SkillsIQ Chief Executive Officer Yasmin King.
Now moving into its 12th year, National Skills Week 2022 is being held this year from August 22 to 28, inviting Australians to explore the Universe of Skills on offer through Vocational Education and Training.
A key objective of National Skills Week is to identify and highlight industries with the most in-demand jobs of the future as well as sectors forecast to see the biggest growth in coming years, to ensure Australians can gain the training and education they need to secure those jobs and maintain stable long-term employment.
This year’s Week will be centred around the theme of ‘A Universe of Skills’ encouraging people to go beyond their imagination to discover careers, pathways and opportunities in skills and Vocational Education that they may not know about, thought about or even imagined.
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