A drive is under way to boost recruitment in the hospitality sector.
Employers have joined forces with staff at Huddersfield Jobcentre for a national initiative, The Hospitality Works, during February to help employers fill current vacancies in a sector which had recruited 18,000 more people since 2010.
Jo Ledgard, Kirklees operations manager for Jobcentre Plus, said a Twitter hashtag – #jobswithasmile – has been set up to provide facts and figures about the industry, careers available and how to get into the industry. On some days, employers will take over the Twitter feed to provide information about their firms and recruitment needs.
Jo said: “We have also started assessment days for sector-based work acadamies – training courses with a guaranteed job interview – in the care sector textiles, construction, retail and hospitality.”
Figures from the Office for National Statistics show another fall in the number of local people claiming work-related benefits compared with a year ago. The Huddersfield claimant count of 1,720 for January is up by 55 on the previous month, but 55 lower than for January, 2016. The Colne Valley total of 1,070 is up by 40 on December figure but is 10 fewer than a year ago.
Nationally, a record 31.8m adults are in work – 300,000 up on a year ago – while unemployment fell by 7,000 to just under 1.6m.
Unemployment in Yorkshire and the Humber fell by 14,000 to 137,000 in the final quarter of 2016.
