14th February 2026
If you read Serving the Future carefully, the message isn't that hospitality is unimportant. It's that the sector currently offers weak security for many of its workers. As the report puts it, "Hospitality plays a vital role in Scotland's economy and culture, yet workers in the sector face some of the lowest wages and most insecure working conditions in the country."
Across four years of research with over two dozen workers and a range of employers, the project found that "unpredictable hours, low pay and a lack of progression opportunities keep many workers in financially precarious situations" a pattern that consistently traps people in low-income roles rather than launching careers.
The data helps explain why:
The hospitality workforce in Scotland is large at roughly 243,000 jobs, making it the third largest employer in the economy but also one of the lowest-paid sectors.
Median hourly pay in hospitality was around £12.71, far below the wider economy's median of £18.39, and while wages are growing, they still sit near the low-pay threshold.
Around 33% of all zero-hours contracts in Scotland were in hospitality in 2023, signalling a high degree of income uncertainty for many workers.
Put together, this paints a picture familiar to too many workers: regular schedules are rare, career progression is informal or absent, and experience often does not translate into real gains in pay or stability.
How Hospitality Compares to Other Low-Paid Sectors
Hospitality shares some challenges with other low-paid sectors — social care, retail, cleaning — but it differs in one key way: it combines low pay with volatility of hours and progression, making the risk for workers significantly higher.
For example, in some care roles or retail jobs, employment contracts are more predictable, and there are clearer training pathways or qualification frameworks that can support career mobility. Hospitality, by contrast, often relies on informal progression — "people can struggle to build stable careers due to low pay, variable hours and limited training pathways" — according to the project’s summary of findings.
This instability is evident in the workforce data. While other sectors may offer low pay, they do not typically pair it with the high prevalence of zero-hours work and unpredictable scheduling seen in hospitality — a combination that makes it especially difficult for workers with childcare responsibilities, health issues, or transport constraints to commit long term.
Recognising the Reality for Small Hospitality Businesses
Before we sound too pessimistic, there’s another side to the story in hat small hospitality employers are themselves under enormous pressure.
The Serving the Future policy briefing highlights that many employers want to do better but face "significant financial pressures due to rising costs and labour shortages." The lived experience in the industry confirms this with many independent pubs, cafes and restaurants operate on very narrow margins and without much cushion against rising energy, food and wage costs.
This tension of good intentions vs operational constraints is central to why the sector hasn’t improved faster. The research shows that there are employers trying to raise standards, but they often lack the resources, guidance and support necessary to sustain change.
What Better Could Actually Look Like
The good news? The evidence suggests that progress — while imperfect — is possible.
For Employers
Fairer work doesn’t just benefit workers — it also benefits businesses. As Serving the Future notes, when employees experience better job quality — such as “more predictable hours, clearer communication or better pathways into training” — they “often reported stronger recruitment and retention.”
Some practical steps employers can take include:
Predictable scheduling instead of last-minute rostering
Clarity around pay and tips, with transparent processes
Structured progression pathways, even basic ones
Training tied to recognised qualifications
These changes don’t require massive budgets — but they do require intention. And the report provides examples of businesses that have trialled improvements, showing that change can come from within the sector.
For Government
None of this can scale without public policy that confronts the deeper structural barriers. Serving the Future recommends coordinated government action, including:
Better enforcement of employment standards, to curb exploitative practice
Funding and incentives that help small businesses improve working conditions
More accessible childcare and transport, particularly in rural areas
Support for training and lifelong skills development
Only when policy supports better jobs as a matter of course — rather than leaving improvements to individual goodwill — can hospitality become a credible long-term career choice.
A Sector at a Crossroads
Right now, hospitality straddles two narratives. On the one hand, it’s a vital part of Scotland’s economy, culture and post-pandemic recovery. On the other, it remains a sector where “in-work poverty is widespread, but not inevitable.”
That phrase “not inevitable” is crucial. It recognises that while current conditions are poor for many workers, they are also changeable. And the combination of evidence, practical tools like the Tourism and Hospitality Toolkit and a growing appetite for reform suggests the sector doesn’t have to stay this way.
Hospitality doesn’t have to be a fallback job. With thoughtful investment from employers and supportive policy from government, it can be a launchpad for careers, not a dead end. But that will require more than optimism — it will require systemic action.
The Reports
To read all the reports in details go HERE