The main occupations in the hospitality sector are:

• hotel/accommodation managers
• restaurant/catering managers
• publicans/managers of licensed premises
• receptionists
• chefs/cooks
• waiting staff
• bar staff
• housekeepers/related occupations
• hotel porters
• kitchen/catering assistants and porters
• cleaners/domestics (although these are an additional occupation and can be found in other industries)

Source: Hospitality Sector Report  2002

The three top occupational groups in hospitality as a percentage of total employment in the sector are:

• elementary occupations 38.9%
• managers and senior officials 24.8%
• skilled trades occupations 15.7%

The low skilled make-up of the hospitality workforce is illustrated by the fact that nearly 39% of employees work in elementary occupations such as hotel porters, waiters/waitresses and bar staff. Many employees and new entrants need support in job-specific skills, language skills and basic and key skills.

Jobs in hotels and restaurants in particular have very low skills demand – 50% require no prior qualifications, 64% need no training, and almost half can be learned in less than one month. 

Managers and senior officials account for around one-quarter of the hospitality workforce. There is a high level of labour turnover in the sector which some sources ascribe to a lack of a well defined career structure within hospitality, particularly into management positions, but other sources argue that there is no such link and retention is usually related to pay and conditions.

Source: Skills in England 2003