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Ministers have warned companies that they should increase their wages rather than complain about the shortage of foreign labour.
The pandemic and Brexit have combined to cause a staffing crisis in restaurants, cafes, warehouses and factories as fewer foreign workers have been looking for work in the UK.
But firms have been criticised for offering ‘poverty wages’ to prospective staff while lobbying for immigration rules to be relaxed.
Labour minister Paul Scully, pictured, said employers in affected industries should increase wages to encourage British people to apply for their empty vacancies
Crop pickers are flying people from the Caribbean to fill roles that had previously been filled by those from the EU. Pictured here, seasonal workers from Romania, in September 2017 in Pulborough, Sussex
Meanwhile, driving schools for lorry drivers have been flooded with applicants after retailers were forced to raise salaries to over £50,000 amid a national shortage.
The hospitality sector is missing 210,000 staff, or 10 per cent of its total workforce, according to trade body UKHospitality. And unemployment has risen during the pandemic to just over 1.6million.
Critics have blasted bosses who expect British workers to accept low pay and tough working conditions, which would otherwise be taken by migrant workers. Now ministers are demanding firms raise wages and make jobs more attractive to UK workers.
Paul Scully, the minister for the labour market, said: ‘We want to see employers make long-term investments in the UK domestic workforce instead of relying on labour from abroad. Businesses should be looking at how to make
