The Algarve is full of tourists and hoteliers and restaurants are desperate for cooks, floor maids or waiters.
These are some of the areas where the number of professionals available in the region is scarce and both temporary work companies and the Institute for Employment and Professional Training (IEFP) are unable to respond to the needs.
The unemployment rate in the region, which stands at 8,1% and is now the lowest in the country, it also helps to realize that, these days, there is more shortage of workers than work.
João Soares, director of the D. José Beach Hotel, in Quarteira, and delegate in the Algarve of the Hotel Association of Portugal, takes over the Sul Informação that “there are many difficulties in finding staff and temporary work companies are our only chance, as the professionals end up not being so good. It is difficult for us to create a stable team, there is a lot of difficulty in recruiting».
The difficulty of creating a stable team exists, according to João Soares, due to the region's seasonality. “We keep a lot of people year-round, but closer to the summer, seasonal, better-paid job offers come up, and the staff go after".
Despite the lack of professionals for all areas, «the kitchen is the one for which it is most difficult to hire».
For João Soares, «there are no staff, because everyone asks for the same type of professionals» and, in the case of the hotel he runs, resorting to unemployed people registered with the IEFP is out of the question: «if someone is unemployed in the middle of the high season, with the lack of professionals there is, it is because something is wrong».
Ricardo Mariano, owner of Algarve temporary work company Timing, has no hands to measure by this time: «especially in July and August, there are more vacancies to fill than available workers». Just at the end of last week, the company announced that it had more than 100 positions to fill.
According to the businessman, "at this moment, there are days when I don't receive any candidacy, while in winter I receive an average of 60". In other words, one more proof of the seasonality that affects the region.
In relation to the professions where there is a greater shortage of workers, Ricardo Mariano highlights three: «cooks, waiters and cleaners. These stand out from all others. The cooks because of their specificity and the rest, especially in the case of floor maids, because of their volume, since, for a village that has, for example, three people in reception and two in maintenance, it needs 15 cleaning workers».
To make up for the lack of people, the only solution is to compensate with overtime: “there are hotels with 20 or so cooks, but in reality, 40 were needed. This means that if we had 15 more cooks, we would place them and there was no need to make these adjustments».
In a year in which the number of tourists continues to break records, according to Ricardo Mariano, “if the region did not receive thousands of people to work from other parts of the country, we would not have the slightest chance of serving those who visit us. We are completely dependent on the migration of people”.
The difficulty of finding workers for the vacancies that exist is also felt by the IEFP. According to Madalena Feu, regional delegate of this Institute, “we have this notion that there is a lack of workers. The number of unemployed in June dropped in the order of two tenths and there are councils where there are job offers without people to occupy them».
Madalena Feu says that this situation happens in areas where there are more hotels, such as Albufeira.
Therefore, the responsible assumes that it will be necessary to reinforce the number of training courses in areas related to tourism. «We already have training in these areas, namely in the kitchen, and there is also the Hotel and Tourism School, but there will be a need for more, particularly in these areas most in need, which are also the areas of excellence in the region», concludes the responsible by the Institute of Employment and Vocational Training.
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