Low pay in the hotel and accommodation sector
Hotels have failed to share the profits of their booming businesses with their workforce. Despite the industry’s rapid recovery after the recession, median earnings barely rose in real terms between 2008 and 2017. Pay in the industry is so low that over half of employees in the industry earn below the real Living Wage, with the number of employees not earning a living wage higher among:
- Younger age groups
- Part-time employees
- Women
- Workers in some regions
Low pay, long hours and abuses of power such as sexual harassment are rife in the industry. In the words of one worker, ‘they treat us like machines’.
This report is the first of two reports looking at the hotel sector. This report will focus on pay. The second, to be published in early 2019, will look at how workers are treated while at work.
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