Some firms have been left unable to open or forced to scale back their services after a combination of Brexit-related changes and Covid restrictions severely depleted the labour market.
Other businesses, including many in the hospitality sector, have become embroiled in wage wars as they seek to find employees from a shrinking pool of potential staff.
The government has announced that from today businesses in industries that have been historically reliant on migrant workers can temporarily recruit ‘licensed’ and ‘registered’ workers on a part-time basis without using up one of their licences. It means that migrant workers can take on a second part-time job without the company losing one of its registered permissions. The measure is due to be in place until 31 October.
Speaking to the JEP yesterday, the manager of El Tico revealed that he had been forced to shelve plans to open a second branch in town due to fears of being unable to staff the operation. Elsewhere, a new St Helier wine bar has had to increase the wages it is offering to attract workers ahead of its planned opening.
Andrew Hosegood, who runs El Tico Beach Cantina, said he had been offered a chance to open a second outlet at a ‘landmark’ building in St Helier but was worried he would not have the personnel to run it and opted not to proceed because ‘staffing is such a challenge’.
He said: ‘Businesses can only grow if they have got customers and if they have got staff. Fundamentally, if they have got staff then they can find customers.
‘You cannot find customers if you do not have staff – it is a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation.’
Mr Hosegood added that he thought the shortage would only get worse and was seriously concerned for the future.
He said: ‘There is a real structural issue which has been caused by certain politicians not understanding certain parts of the Brexit agreement that Jersey was signed up to.
‘I do believe that there will be serious inflationary pressures in the future which will have a direct economic impact on the Island. It is a major problem and I do think that things are going to get much worse and much more acute.’
Meanwhile, Bruno-Santos Costa, owner of the Watchmaker, a wine bar due to open in Halkett Place in October, said he had been forced to increase the wages he was offering by between 20% and 25%.
He said: ‘It is very competitive at the moment and there seems to be no drive from the government to get hospitality workers here after Brexit.
‘I have just got back from living in London and things are nowhere near as bad over there. Jersey needs to do something before it is too late.’
Phil Le Maistre, from Grouville-based Master Farms, said his family’s business, following a recent addition of Filipino workers, was managing to cope.
However, he said that employees who were not from the Common Travel Area came at a great cost to the agricultural industry and that staffing represented one of their biggest challenges.
‘The visas and work permits also mean a big cost for us to bring them in, but at the end of the day our crops need tending to. We have cows to look after and we just need to get the work done. It does mean that our costs are going up all the time,’ he said. ‘Labour is one of our biggest challenges going forward as an industry and we are trying to look at ways we can utilise technology where we can. It is going to be tough, especially if Covid keeps recurring each year.’
Jennifer Carnegie, president of Jersey’s Chamber of Commerce, said that the government decision to ease work permit restrictions would ‘mean that employers who are finding it difficult to attract staff have an opportunity to hire part-time workers to keep their businesses going, without having to use or seek another registered or licensed permission.’
