AHA National President David Canny says that there are 100,000 positions vacant across the Australian hospitality sector nationally and suggests that workers who lost their summertime gigs with the collapse of Deliveroo should re-focus their attention to the sector.

“I feel for the 15,000 workers who were effected by the collapse of Deliveroo last week, it’s a terrible time of year to be out of work,” said Canny.

“But anyone who has lost their job should consider hospitality - we are desperate for staff and will welcome them with open arms."

AHA National CEO Stephen Ferguson said a recent study by Ernst and Young found hospitality was short 102,000 workers – more than 23,000 baristas, 13,000 bartenders about 12,000 chefs, 7,000+ housekeepers and 11,700 kitchen-hands.

“We don’t need people in a few months, we need them right now,” said Mr Ferguson.

“Our industry is struggling to recover from the worst 18 months in our history and the recovery is being hampered by a dire skills shortage across the nation. There has never been a better time to get into our industry and I urge anyone who has lost their job to head down to their local hotel and fill in an application.”

There are plenty of job and training opportunities available, such as Barcats which is running free RSA training courses in Sydney and business in the on-premise sector is booming following two years of lockdowns.

“Hotels are a fun place to work, we offer good wages, job security and training," said Canny.

“Many see hospitality as a part-time money earner but there are also many opportunities to build fulfilling a career and earn great wages.”

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