"Boss, When Will the Food Be Ready?"... Restaurants Struggling to Hire Staff

Employees Laid Off Due to COVID-19
Already Concentrated in Delivery Jobs
Low-Wage Food Service Industry Faces Labor Shortage

"Happy About More Customers, but Barely Operating with Whole Family Mobilized"
"Raising Hourly Wages Indiscriminately Is Also Worrisome"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] "Boss, is the order I placed ready yet?" "Sorry, I will bring it right away."

On the evening of the 18th, a barbecue restaurant in Jung-gu, Seoul was fully occupied with over 10 tables, but there were only two employees working. Despite group dining guests arriving following the phased transition to daily life recovery (With Corona), the shortage of staff led to inadequate food serving and customer service, causing complaints to erupt in many places. The restaurant owner, Kwon Sun-young (52, pseudonym), said, "Since COVID-19, customers stopped coming and operations became difficult, so most employees were laid off. We are unable to handle the sudden increase in customers," adding, "We have been posting job advertisements online for a month, but have received no responses, so we are urgently running the business with the help of family members."

Unable to Find Staff, Family Members Mobilized

Although the transition to With Corona has brought vitality back to local commercial districts, many places are struggling as they cannot rehire the employees they had previously reduced. It is analyzed that many workers who lost their jobs last year have shifted to delivery jobs with higher hourly wages, causing the food service industry, which has relatively high work intensity but lower hourly wages, to suffer from labor shortages.

Kim Chang-ho (50), who has been running a bar near Konkuk University Station in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul for five years, had a complicated expression. Kim said, "Since the transition to With Corona, weekends have surpassed pre-COVID-19 levels, and weekdays have recovered to about 70% of usual."

However, along with the joy of sales recovery came growing concerns. Kim said, "We have not been able to find part-time workers for over two weeks, so on weekends, the whole family pitches in to run the store. But since family members have their own work, it is becoming difficult to ask for more help," adding, "Most nearby stores have not fully recovered their sales yet, so we cannot just keep raising hourly wages to find staff, which is very worrying."

On the afternoon of the 12th, the commercial area near Konkuk University Station in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul. On this day, the liquor industry, including Hite Jinro, resumed face-to-face promotional activities in response to the transition to With Corona.

Liquor Industry Also "Hiring Part-Time Workers"

The liquor industry, which resumed face-to-face promotional activities after a year, is also experiencing labor shortages. On the 12th, the sales team of Hite Jinro launched face-to-face promotions for the first time since the transition to With Corona. They had planned to start full-scale promotions from the 1st, when the transition began, but postponed the plan for over a week due to the inability to find part-time workers.

A liquor industry official explained, "The entertainment market, which had been severely depressed by COVID-19, is beginning to regain vitality, and the industry has collectively restarted face-to-face promotional activities that had been suspended," adding, "However, since part-time workers have not been sufficiently recruited, promotional activities are being conducted only in some key commercial areas."

According to the job portal Alba Heaven, the number of part-time job postings from January to October this year increased by about 47% compared to the same period last year, but the number of applications decreased by 9%. Self-employed business owners are finding fewer applicants despite the increased demand for workers.

The number of self-employed individuals working alone has also significantly increased. According to the October employment trends by Statistics Korea, the number of self-employed without employees increased by 45,000 compared to October last year, while those with employees decreased by 26,000.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.