Companies bidding to bounce back from a year of Covid hell are now facing the worst recruitment crisis in 20 years, experts warn.

It was feared the pandemic could trigger 4 million job losses.

But a growing economic recovery – coupled with Brexit and long-term trends – has left firms crying out for employees.

From bar staff to fruit pickers there are a glut of jobs to fill.

Some businesses have even resorted to offering staff thousands of pounds to help recruit new blood, or simply to stay on.

Others, including restaurants, are turning away customers or limiting their opening hours.

Experts are fearful of economic recovery (
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Getty Images/Cultura RF)

But while businesses worry and economists fear the impact on the recovery, it is “good for working people” says James Reed of Reed recruitment.

He said: “It suddenly switched to become a buyers’ market.

“It is easier to get jobs, move jobs and to get a pay rise – workers have a lot more power.”

Fellow recruiter Manpower said UK firms faced “one of the largest shortages in the world”.

Tony Wilson says we haven't seen shortages like this for 20 years

And Tony Wilson, of the Institute for Employment Studies, said there could be “acute shortages we haven’t seen for 20 years”.

Data from the Office for National Statistics shows vacancies leapt 24% from March and May, to 758,000.

It came as McDonald’s announced plans to hire an extra 20,000 workers and open 50 new UK branches.

Hospitality

The hospitality sector has been hard hit (
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Getty)

Sector is facing one of the worst staffing crises of any – with nearly 190,000 vacancies.

The reopening of restaurants pubs and cafes exposed a severe manpower shortage, exacerbated by many immigrants returning home at the start of the pandemic.

Restrictions on travel mean it is unclear when they can return.

UKHospitality found 80% of its members were short of front-of-house workers, such as waiters, and 85% needed chefs.

Some restaurants are said to be offering staff fees of up to £2,000 to find new recruits.

Lorry drivers

There is a long-term shortage in lorry drivers (
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A long-term shortage of truckers has reached “catastrophic proportions”, industry body the Road Haulage Association warn.

It estimates the national shortfall at 70,000. RHA chief executive Richard Burnett said: “The upturn in the economy since Covid-19 is increasing demand across supply chains and the reopening of non-essential retail outlets and parts of the hospitality sector is making the situation even worse.”

A year of lockdowns has shrunk the number of drivers being trained.

The shortage affects rubbish collections as well as deliveries.

Hairdressers
Many hairdressers have been hampered by a lack of stylists (
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Getty Images)

Hairdressers and barbers were flooded with bookings once they were allowed to reopen.

But many are being hampered by a lack of stylists, especially trainees.

Hair and beauty body the NHBF reported a 13% drop in hairdressing and barbering apprenticeships in England.

Carolyn Sweeney, owner of Creations Hair Salon in Chichester, West Sussex, said: “Gone are the days you’d put an advert in the window and be flooded with applicants.”

Manufacturing

Covid and Brexit has affected factory work (
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Ian Cooper/North Wales Live)

Factory owners say the problem of finding skilled workers has become worse after Covid and Brexit.

EU nationals once accounted for up to 80% of staff at some sites. Pigs in blankets could even be off the menu this Christmas because of a shortage of meat processing factory workers.

Clive Richer, of Somerset cheese factory Norseland, said: “So many of our staff returned to their home countries when Brexit happened, and we’ve faced a struggle to recruit replacements because of the general exodus of EU workers.”

NHS

The UK already had a chronic shortage of nurses (
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The pandemic worsened an already chronic shortage or nurses.

The Royal College of Nursing says England entered the Covid crisis with around 40,000 unfilled posts. Some 15,000 extra nurses, midwives and nursing associates are on the Nursing and Midwifery Council register compared to March 2020, but the rate of growth has slowed.

Former Test and Trace boss Baroness Dido Harding has applied to becomes the next head of the NHS.

Despite shortages, she would reportedly challenge the “prevailing orthodoxy” that it is wise to hire medical professionals from overseas.

Agriculture

Experts warn there is crisis in food supply (
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Food shortages are seen as inevitable as farmers report a crippling lack of workers.

For years, producers relied on migrant workers to harvest crops.

But coronavirus and Brexit are blamed for driving away thousands of foreign pickers and packers.

The Government extended a visa scheme for EU farm workers but, with up to 500,000 workers, there is still a massive shortfall.

One vegetable grower revealed his firm had hiked wages by 60% to almost £20 an hour but it is feared crops will be left to rot because there are still not enough pickers.

Shane Brennan, head of the Cold Chain Federation, said: “The real crisis for food supplies starts now.”

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Are pay rises on the way?

The battle to find staff in some sectors is already leading to better pay.

Average salaries for hospitality and catering jobs have risen 18% this year, while in retail they are up 10%, recruitment website Reed.co.uk said.

Pay across all the board has increased 4%, it added, although it pointed out some of the rises were for staff originally on the minimum wage.

A survey by pay specialists XpertHR put the average rise at 1.9%, and found one in five workers were still facing wage freezes.

They said any wage rises should be put in context with rising living costs, with inflation jumping to 2.1% in May.