Norway’s hotels short of staff as sector recovers from pandemic
Hotels in Norway are close to returning to capacity following two years of Covid-19 restrictions and are struggling to find enough staff to cover their needs.
The number of overnight stays at hotels in Norway increased by 225 percent in April compared to the same period in 2021, according to recent data from Statistics Norway.
Meanwhile, the cost of a hotel room is 24 percent more expensive than it was last year, according to research by radio station P4.
That increase is even more dramatic in capital Oslo, with prices up by up to 60 percent over 12 months.
While guest are now a plentiful commodity at hotels, staff are not, broadcaster NRK writes.
A search on arbeidsplassen.no, the job search platform for Norwegian public welfare agency NAV, shows a total of 941 jobs currently advertised at hotels and similar businesses.
The number of people out of work in the sector has dropped as the number of available positions has increased.
Closures due to Covid-19 restrictions in 2021 and 2020, and the large number of hotel workers who were put on furlough (permittert in Norwegian) are the background for the surge in unfilled positions this year.
“We have the opposite problem to during the pandemic. Then, there were many unemployed and few jobs available. Now it’s very difficult to find chefs and waiting staff,” NAV senior consultant Gustav Svane told NRK.
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The number of overnight stays at hotels in Norway increased by 225 percent in April compared to the same period in 2021, according to recent data from Statistics Norway.
Meanwhile, the cost of a hotel room is 24 percent more expensive than it was last year, according to research by radio station P4.
That increase is even more dramatic in capital Oslo, with prices up by up to 60 percent over 12 months.
While guest are now a plentiful commodity at hotels, staff are not, broadcaster NRK writes.
A search on arbeidsplassen.no, the job search platform for Norwegian public welfare agency NAV, shows a total of 941 jobs currently advertised at hotels and similar businesses.
The number of people out of work in the sector has dropped as the number of available positions has increased.
Closures due to Covid-19 restrictions in 2021 and 2020, and the large number of hotel workers who were put on furlough (permittert in Norwegian) are the background for the surge in unfilled positions this year.
“We have the opposite problem to during the pandemic. Then, there were many unemployed and few jobs available. Now it’s very difficult to find chefs and waiting staff,” NAV senior consultant Gustav Svane told NRK.
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