Only one third of temporary work permit exemptions granted in the hospitality sector during the peak season were taken up.

Department for Enterprise member Lawrie Hooper revealed that between March 1 and October 31, there were 179 applications for temporary exemptions, of which 56 were taken up.

Mr Hooper (LibVannin, Ramsey) said: ’The differential between exemptions requested and actually taken up may be for a number of reasons, including the roles being filled by Isle of Man workers, the employer deciding to apply for a work permit for permanent employment into a role or the inability to fill the role.’

Answering a question from Julie Edge (Onchan), in the absence of Enterprise Minister Laurence Skelly, Mr Hooper added: ’It remains a requirement of the seasonal exemption for any employer who applies to continue to advertise vacancies so that they remain genuinely available to Isle of Man workers.

’The purpose of the exemption is to enable hospitality sector employers to undertake advertising and recruitment as quickly as possible, recognising the acute shortage of available workers and the need for such workers to commence work almost immediately, in many cases.’

Ms Edge said a recent report showed 5% of those unemployed were from the hospitality sector and suggested the government should try to get those people into the unfilled posts.

But she added that work permits were not the issue, but the ’failure’ of the DfE to attract people.

Mr Hooper said there were ’considerably more jobs’ available in the hospitality sector in March, at 202, than the 26 registered unemployed who were from that sector, out of an unemployed total of 349.

’There is a lot of support out there for anyone who is interested in getting into the hospitality sector,’ he said.

Attracting people to work in the island was a ’core focus’ of the department’s Locate strategy, he added.