A few months ago, in an interview, the famous Spanish chef Ferran Adrià, stated that a waiter, in two or three years, will earn more than a lawyer. He explained that the reason is simply and simply because there is none. “A waiter in Paris in a good restaurant is earning 6,000 euros gross a month,” he commented. Perhaps some somewhat embellished figures, but his answer deals with a real phenomenon. In Spain we are currently experiencing a shortage of waiters, who have abandoned their jobs in search of better conditions. An episode that will worsen over time.
Meanwhile, the labor market in many northern European countries is demanding foreign workers through the EURES network, the labor mobility platform promoted by the European Union, many of them Spanish waiters. They offer permanent positions with salaries that exceed €3,500 per month. Who will stay like this?
The problem in Spain. Up to 73,000 workers who were dedicated to hospitality before the pandemic have not returned to their jobs. That means 3% fewer waiters. Even more so if we count the 20% of hospitality workers who are paid in black. Yes, there is a strong gap between demand and supply. Not only is there a lack of training in the sector, but the positions are not well covered. The reasons why they have not returned to their posts are many and different. Many of them looked for other jobs that continued to work despite the pandemic. Others dedicated themselves to training to qualify for better jobs.
But what is clear is that it is a very precarious world: according to INE data, about €1,300 gross per month is charged in fourteen payments. It is the lowest salary of all the INE classifications together with that of unskilled workers. And the contracts are very short: last year two out of three signed were temporary. There are also many cases of working hours without rest not reflected in contracts and payment in black.
Europe steals our waiters. Not only Spain has this problem. Countries like France have announced that they have a “historical” deficit of workers in the tourism sector for the summer. In the case of our neighbors, there is a lack of between 200,000 and 300,000 employees. Like here, most of these profiles have sought their luck in other sectors, where salaries are higher and working hours are better regulated.
That is why Gallic businessmen are already trying to attract professionals in Spain, but also the Irish, Norwegians, Austrians and Germans, seducing waiters with high salaries. To give an example: a luxurious Norwegian establishment was looking for 35 waiters and was willing to pay €3,800. In another offer for a waiter on a cruise, the salaries, depending on experience, are between €27,000 and €50,000. These salaries would also have to be adjusted with the cost of living in the different countries, but even so, the accounts come out. According to several websites, the cost of living in Norway for an adult would be between €1,700 and €2,300, something affordable with the aforementioned salary.
Salaries over 3,000€. A few months ago, Sweden and Norway were looking for new worker profiles, specifically waiters and hairdressers. Among the requirements is to have at least one year of experience and a good level of English. The salary is between 180 and 220 Norwegian kroner per hour, the equivalent of between €17 and €21. And they offer a permanent full-time position, so with that hourly price at 40 hours per week, they can exceed €3,500 gross per month. In the case of the Swedish offer, it is a luxury spa, the Falkenberg Strandbad. In this case the salary will be according to the Swedish collective agreement.
With just a glance at various job portals, we see the various pay and needs of European countries. infojobswhich collects 1,200 offers from waiters, shows an attractive career in a fancy restaurant located on the pier of the port of Brevik (Norway), whose owners are willing to pay between €3,100 and €3,800 for waiters with an advanced level of English and three years of experience. And also other incentives: indefinite contract, full time, affiliation to Social Security and help to find accommodation. While the agency Global Experts seeks five chefs with intermediate level English to work in Ireland with salaries between €24,000 and €39,000 per year.
salary differences. The economic conditions for those who work in this sector are very varied depending on the country where they work. If we look at Geneva, in Switzerland, one of the most expensive cities in the world, a waiter earns 20 euros an hour and in a month can easily reach 2,400-3,200 euros without a tip, working 6 to 8 hours a day for five days.
In London, for example, a waiter in a café earns £7.5 an hour and, working full-time, can collect £1,000 at the end of the month, not including tips. We are even more surprised by what happens in a city like Copenhagen, where waiters charge around €18 an hour (135 Danish crowns), which means about €3,000 a month. But if we go down to the south, to Spain, the country with the largest number of bars in Europe and where the profession of waiter is very popular, we see that in Santiago de Compostela, the monthly salary is around €1,000 (9 hours a day, 6 days a week). A robbery, by comparison. No wonder, then, that our waiters want to leave. Or stop working.
Image: GTRES