The construction industry was the first sector to shout loudly about the shortage of workers when it opened up to residential building back in April. Ireland had a stricter lockdown than many neighbouring countries and developers quickly discovered some workers — many of whom had come to work in Ireland from Eastern Europe — had followed the money and headed to the UK to make a living during the pandemic.
s the economy has opened up, more and more business owners have realised that getting workers is one of their biggest challenges, and one which they were unlikely to have factored in when shutting up shop back in March 2020.
Hospitality and retail have been hit next, with the pandemic unemployment payment (PUP) scheme being blamed for the difficulties some employers are having in luring people back to low-paid and often tough jobs.
Inevitably, pressure to increase pay and improve conditions is now part of the equation.
More than 2,500 Dunnes Stores workers recently signed a petition calling on the Irish retail giant to to make a temporary 10pc Covid-19 payment boost and 20pc staff bonus a permanent feature of their employment.
Last year, workers in Dunnes managed to secure these temporary measures recognising their work and the risks to their health and safety during the pandemic.
Employees say they last got a pay increase in 2019 and given they still had to work and face the public during the past 18 months, the Covid pay increases should not be taken away.
Dunnes has always taken a fairly hardline approach with employee demands, but at the moment there is no pool of alternative workers to turn to — if it comes to that.
Ireland is not alone in worker shortages. In the Netherlands, for example, there are now more job vacancies than unemployed people. Between April and June there were 106 job vacancies for every 100 unemployed people. A record-breaking 327,000 jobs are available.
In the UK, the shortage of workers appears to have been exacerbated by Brexit.
A headline-grabbing development was the temporary closure of 40 Nando’s restaurants, the home of peri peri chicken.
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Nando’s blamed staffing issues at its suppliers’ factories as well as the shortage of HGV lorry drivers that has led to gaps on supermarket shelves in the UK in recent weeks. Covid outbreaks have led to groups of staff having to isolate and stay off work but there is a fundamental shortage of staff.
An estimated additional 30,000 truck drivers are needed to keep the UK supply chain going and Premier Foods, which owns the likes of Oxo and Mr Kipling, has even suggested bringing in the army to help.
Little surprise then that some workers in the food industry are also highlighting their worth.
According to industry newsletter Just Food, employees at a Weetabix production plant in the UK staged a 24-hour strike dispute over pay and conditions last week. No doubt more will follow.
While the labour squeeze in Ireland has been so far focused on shops and restaurants, there are growing fears that food production will too finds itself at a pinch point.
I’ve heard some HR departments are tapping into local families to implore them to get their student children to work during the summer to plug gaps left by foreign workers.
Students have indeed been pulled in, sparking some fears that this issue of shortages will only deepen in September in the areas of dairy production and meat processing.
Joe Ryan, senior executive with Meat Industry Ireland, said: “As is the case for many sectors of the economy, the meat-processing industry is experiencing serious challenges regarding labour availability and the situation continues to deteriorate.
“Companies continue to focus efforts on recruitment and retention, but staff shortage has become a real issue and is challenging processing capacities.”
He expects further pressure in the autumn, due in part to the meat processing cycle for some animals..
“Already, processors are having to make compromises at operational level, opting out of more detailed cutting specifications or foregoing value-add production in order maintain throughput,” he said.
He does not see this hitting Irish shelves but says exports may be hit.
While the PUP may have had some impact on the available workforce, at the heart of the problem is the fact that Europe has depended on workers from all over the world to take up low-paid jobs.
Over the last 18 months patterns of migration have been disrupted.
Travel limitations, uncertainty around lockdowns and fears of being separated from families have discouraged workers from the likes of Poland, Romania, Turkey and South America from heading to our shores.
Businesses are resourceful and the market will find a way of finding new staff if travel is moving more freely — as it hopefully will in the coming months.
However, the temporary risk of disruption to services and food supply chains is very real.