One of Europe’s top tourism destinations is struggling to attract bar and restaurant staff, despite an 18 percent unemployment rate. The Algarve, Portugal’s immensely popular southern region, is facing a somewhat paradoxical crisis regarding extreme unemployment figures and a distinct lack of skilled hospitality staff.
Portugal has been struggling to deal with its growing unemployment rate for the last four years, with analysts often pinning the country’s economic problems on a major shortage of jobs. Despite this, many of Portugal’s businesses – particularly those in the tourism industry – are facing a shortage of job applications.
The Algarve region, Portugal’s top tourist destination, has the country’s highest level of unemployment. The region’s hospitality sector is the largest employer, employing one in six locals. Many of the region’s employers, however, are struggling to find any staff as unemployment benefits and social programs prove more enticing.
Despite extensive austerity measures, Portugal’s social welfare system is seen as a more desirable option than hospitality work. Bars and nightclubs often demand an extreme commitment in terms of hours worked, with many would-be employees in the Algarve shunning the long hours in favour of a more relaxed lifestyle.
Despite the employers’ insistence that their staffing problems can be blamed on the lucrative benefits available to the unemployed, many of Portugal’s experts blame the industry’s seasonal nature for its staffing shortage. Employee director Rui Carvalho claims that many workers ‘don’t want to work for just six months’ every year.
Many hospitality workers travel between Portugal and other regions to capitalise on the country’s seasonal industry. The UK is a popular working destination for staff in the region, with many working locally during Portugal’s peak tourist season before traveling to the UK to capitalise on increased tourist numbers during the summer.
