PROFESSOR DYLAN JONES-EVANS

 Earlier this week, data from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation showed that there were 1.7 million active job adverts in the UK during the last week of August with around 193,000 new job adverts posted during those seven days.  In fact, its research shows that the number of new jobs being advertised has remained high over the last three months with Wales having the highest active job postings during this period. However, as the press has highlighted recently, all businesses (but especially those in the hospitality and haulage industries) have struggled to get the workers they need with some having no option but to reduce their operations as a result. Of course, the jobs market is still not as clear cut as it was prior to the pandemic, and we will have to wait and see how the gradual closure of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme – where employers could furlough those employees at risk of redundancy due to the pandemic – will pan out in terms of creating opportuniti...

Back in late January, I was having a cup of tea with one of Wales’ leading businesspeople who had been keeping an eye on the emergence of a new flu-like virus that was spreading like wildfire through the Chinese city of Wuhan.  He showed me a video of people shouting from their locked apartment blocks in the middle of the night and suggested that this could be a serious situation that could get out of control quickly, advising me to buy some high-quality personal protection masks as soon as possible.  Of course, when I did and told friends and family, this naturally resulted in a lot of leg pulling at my over-reaction to something happening thousands of miles away that would never affect Wales.  Fast forward six weeks later and everyone was trying to get hold of facemasks as the whole of the world went into lockdown and nations faced the first serious global pandemic since the Spanish Flu outbreak in 1918. Since then, we have seen the country shut down, re-opened and now ...

The Welsh hospitality industry from tomorrow will be forced by the Welsh Government to shut from 6pm and will not be allowed to serve alcohol for the next two weeks. First Minister Mark Drakeford claims that this decision, which will see many bars and restaurants having to close as it just doesn’t make sense commercial sense to trade under such restrictions, was specifically made to stop the further spread of infection amongst the population in Wales. He said this was backed up by evidence from the Technical Advisory Cell (TAC) which advises the Welsh Government and the SAGE group of scientists which advises the UK Government. If studies clearly showed that the reopening of pubs, restaurants and cafes since the last firebreak was the direct cause of the subsequent increase in infection rates, then there would be no arguments whatsoever about this decision. Unfortunately, there seems to be no valid evidence from either TAC or SAGE to show this. For example, if we examine the most recent...

As predicted, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced specific support last week for the tourism and hospitality industry that has been hardest hit by the shutdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.  This included cutting VAT to 5 per cent for food, accommodation and attraction  businesses and the unprecedented introduction of a half price discount on meals and non-alcoholic drinks every Monday to Wednesday in August. Many applauded Rishi Sunak for this bold move but, of course, these incentives will only benefit businesses that are open to paying customers and, unfortunately, that is not the currently the situation in Wales. However, the good news released yesterday lunchtime after desperate pleas from the tourism industry across Wales is that pubs, cafes, restaurants and bars can reopen indoors in Wales from 3rd August if coronavirus cases continue to fall.  The law enforcing the 2m social distancing rules will also be altered if other measures such as the installation ...

Earlier this week, the hospitality industry in Wales again set out a safe and sensible pathway to the Welsh Government for opening pubs and restaurants across the country, boosting the tourism industry that is so important to the economy at this time of year. Despite this, these calls again fell on deaf years with the Welsh Government arguing that the science did not support, at this stage, any further easing of restrictions although it also did not provide any specific scientific information to the sector as to why this was the case  So is following the science a good enough reason for continuing the lockdown of this vital industry?  Let’s take, for example, the issue of facemasks. Researchers have shown that wearing masks can reduce transmission of the virus by half and yet Wales remains one of few nations globally that has yet to make wearing masks on public transport compulsory or even to encourage their use in crowded public places.  Indeed, as Dr Anthony Fauci - Ame...

Undoubtedly, the industry that has been hit hardest by the Covid-19 pandemic is the leisure and hospitality sector of the Welsh economy.  Pubs, bars, restaurants, music venues and theatres have been closed for two months and, according to the UK and Welsh Governments, are likely to be the last to open as restrictions are lifted.  So does this means that the so-called social economy is dead or is there a different vision to its future whilst living side-by-side with the Coronavirus? According to the article “ Covid’s Metamorphoses: The Future of the Social Economy ” by Philip Kolvin QC and Alicia Scholer, there are certainly challenges ahead although these can be overcome if the social economy is seen as a place where we not only eat and drink but also interact with those human beings that we have had to avoid for the last two months.  The social economy should also be recognised by policymakers as not only an economic force but also a social good that needs to be actively...