Hotels; catering; tourism and Social protection

Working conditions in hotels and restaurants are largely characterized by irregular, often unsocial working hours; a-typical forms of employment such as on-call employment or undesired part time employment; comparatively low pay, little job stability and poor career prospects. Difficult working conditions contribute to high staff turnover. On the other hand, the sector does provide employment to workers with little or no formal training, people who want to work part time and those who do not want to enter into a long term employment commitment, as is the case of many young people still in university or aiming to take up other areas of activity. People migrating from less developed regions find jobs in the sector, as do workers with family responsibilities. These factors favour the employment of women. Women account for about 70 per cent of employees in the hotel and restaurant sector in most countries.

The presence of rather informal employment relations especially in small enterprises favours child labour. In the hotel and restaurant sector which also includes bars, children can be exposed to physical and moral hazards and be damaged for the rest of their lives.