The survey found that only one in ten young people were willing to choose a career in the hospitality industry, with 31% saying they would not choose a career in the sector because they perceived it to be low paid.
Other reasons included a lack of knowledge about jobs in hospitality (26%), not believing they had the sufficient skills (25%) and not wanting to work unsociable hours (23%).
The research, which asked more than 2,000 young people between the ages of 14 and 21-year-old, was designed to understand the challenges and opportunities for the hospitality industry when it comes to recruiting and retaining Gen Z employees.
Adele Oxberry, founder of Umbrella Training, said: “For as long as I remember, our sector has battled with attraction and recruitment of young people. While there are lots of anecdotal explanations, our aim in commissioning this research was to collect some hard evidence and data on what young people really think about the hospitality industry.
“We’re hoping that the insights we have gathered will help shape how we as a sector behave in the future, and by taking the recommendations forward, create a pipeline of talent coming into our industry who see opportunities in the sector and will carry it into a bright future.”
The reasons given for wanting to pursue a career in hospitality included wanting to make people feel happy (36%), because they enjoyed cooking (29%), the opportunity to work abroad (26%), a fun working environment (26%) and career progression (25%).