The average weekly wage for full-time hospitality workers has risen by 53% over the past decade, to £502 per week, according to ONS data for the year to 30 September 2022.
The data, which has been analysed by accountancy firm Hazelwoods, also reveal that the hospitality sector has seen the fastest rising wages in the UK, out of the top 10 industries listed, with the construction industry coming in second.
Average weekly wages over the 12 months to 30 September have increased 22.8%, from £409 in 2021.
The average hospitality worker has experienced four times as much wage inflation as the UK’s average worker, with average wages increasing 4.9% from £696 per week in 2021 to £729 in 2022, it said.
Rebecca Copping, associate partner at Hazlewoods, said the increase in wages over the past decade was partly due to rises in the National Minimum Wage. This figure has risen by 53% in the last ten years, from £6.19 per hour in 2012 to £9.50 in 2022.
Wage inflation in the hospitality sector in the past year has also been fuelled by labour shortages, with Brexit restrictions reducing the number of workers coming to the UK from the EU.
“Hospitality workers have seen minimum wage rises and Brexit combine to drive up their wages sharply over the past ten years,” Copping said.
“Recruiting from what is a now a finite pool of workers in a much more competitive market has mean pay levels have had to increase markedly.”
“Higher wages are good news for the staff in the sector but they are putting the industry’s weak margins under even greater pressure.”
