Many of the tens of thousands of employees who were laid off from the restaurant and travel industries during the pandemic have fared relatively well, according to private employment agencies.
Jobs are available if you are active and prepared to change careers – but many are still looking for work and some have had to pay in the form of lower wages.
It is true that many people are still out of work and those who had temporary jobs before the crisis are having a tougher time.
But statistics from TRR and TSL, the private employment agencies run by unions and employers, show that the transition time from dismissal to a new job or studies has been faster than for other groups in the labor market.
”"Considering how the situation has been and is looking, we think things are going much better for our participants than we could have expected," says Caroline Söder, CEO of TSL, which helps LO groups find new jobs.
According to Lennart Hedström, CEO of the civil servant equivalent, TRR, one thing is clear: Those who are open to new paths have a greater chance.
”More and more people need to consider changing industries,” he says.
And that's what the numbers show.
”More people are changing industries or studying than before,” says Lennart Hedström.
Among the more than 2,500 white-collar workers who have been laid off in the restaurant and tourism industry and ended up on TRR's rolls, three-quarters have chosen to leave their old careers, either for a job in another profession or to study for retraining - a development that is encouraged by Lennart Hedström as the labor market changes at an increasingly rapid pace.
”I think you see a healthier attitude towards change,” he says.
In general, many younger people in the restaurant, hotel and tourism industries were affected by last year's wave of layoffs and are also the ones who recover the fastest, TRR's statistics show. For those particularly hard hit in the aviation industry, the transition has been tougher. Many have worked for a long time and a transition has meant worse finances. Approximately half of the former aviation employees who have found new jobs have been forced to take a pay cut, according to TRR's figures.
Among workers, not as many change jobs. Only a third have changed industries, often to trade and warehousing or care professions within healthcare. About twice as many, twelve percent, than normal, invest in education among those laid off, according to TSL's statistics.
But the majority will remain. Many employers are rehiring the dismissed staff, often on a need-based basis, and all the government's support efforts have played a role in this, according to Caroline Söder.
”Many people hope for a turnaround and they often want to stay in the industry,” she says.
But even if The outlook is bright for the participants at TRR and TSL, with about half of the dismissed white-collar workers registered with TRR still looking for work, preferably those who have been dismissed recently. The statistics are also far from comprehensive, for example, they only include those who had permanent employment and only companies with collective agreements. Temporary employment is common in the industry.
According to statistics from the industry organization Visita, for example, there were 50,000 fewer people employed in the tourism industry in December than a year earlier.
Source: TT
