Briefing Note: The hospitality industry and COVID-19 - Graph 1. Monthly revenue from food services and accommodation in billions of constant (2021) rand (a), seasonally adjusted, January 2020 to June 2021

The pandemic has seen a far slower recovery in hospitality jobs than in the rest of the economy, however. [...] The number of people employed in the industry dropped from 600 000 in THE REAL ECONOMY BULLETIN Jan Feb March April May June July August Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb March April May June the first quarter of 2020 to 450 000 in the second quarter, and has effectively stabilised there. [...] As a result, hospitality jobs dropped from 3.7% of total employment in the first quarter of 2020 to 2.0% in the second quarter of 2021. [...] Women constitute around 55% of employment in the industry, compared to below 45% in the rest of the economy, which means the downturn has hit them particularly hard. [...] That approach risks prolonging waves of COVID-19, which in turn endangers the recovery in the rest of the economy and in society.