ITALIAN RESTAURANT GROUP COMPLAINS ABOUT LABOR SHORTAGE

Guests are returning to restaurants across Italy as the pandemic recedes - but there are not enough people to serve them, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported.

The Italian federation of bars and restaurants (FIPE) said in a recent statement that an estimated 15,000 workers are missing. There is a shortage of permanent employees in particular, FIPE vice president Aldo Cursano told La Repubblica newspaper.

Cursano said that he had lost eight employees from his restaurants and bars in Florence in the past year. One of them became a bricklayer, while another went abroad, he said. "Now, I can't manage to keep my restaurants open for the entire day," said Cursano.

According to the FIPE statement, many cooks and bartenders have changed jobs. It called on politicians to restore confidence in the restaurant jobs by signaling that the process of reopening was irreversible.

Italy's restaurant scene was severely scaled back after a series of coronavirus restrictions and lockdowns.

The government has increasingly lifted many of them in recent months: Outdoor dining has been allowed since the start of May, and indoor dining will start up again from Tuesday, though only four people can sit at a table.

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