The taxpayer is going to help companies in the hospitality industry to pay the wages of new staff.

Hotels and restaurants are finding it difficult to attract new workers.

So the Department for Enterprise’s Financial Assistance Scheme has now been amended.

It extends the roles eligible to receive financial assistance to skilled and/or senior roles within the tourism and hospitality sector for the positions of head chef, sous chef, head housekeeper, food and beverage manager, revenue manager and general hotel manager.

The department will offer financial assistance of 20% of the salary paid to the employee for their first year of employment where the salary is greater than £25,000 a year, up to the value of £10,000 per new relocated staff member.

A lot of attention has been focused on the difficulty the health service and e-gaming companies have in attracting staff to the island. The hospitality sector is facing similar problems.

In last month’s unemployment figures, there were 81 vacancies in the ’catering and entertainment’ employment category, while there were 13 in tourism.

In comparison, there were 83 vacancies in health and 41 in e-gaming.

Visit Isle of Man, the government’s tourism agency, carried out a survey that revealed a lack of available applicants in the island with the skills and experience to fill tourism sector vacancies.

Laurence Skelly MHK, Minister for the Department for Enterprise, described the hospitality industry as a ’key sector’ in the Manx economy.

He added: We continue to work closely with local businesses to encourage the promotion of courses and apprenticeships for residents but appreciate the immediate request for resolution from the industry.

’The scheme is also designed to reward businesses who encourage skilled Islanders working or studying in the UK and abroad to return to the Isle of Man.’

Angela Byrne, head of Visit Isle of Man, said: ’Having seen the success of the employee relocation incentive for other sectors we are looking forward to working with our tourism and hospitality providers to address the issues they have been facing in meeting skills shortages.

’Quality accommodation and food and beverage tourism are priorities for our visitors and in order to remain competitive as a destination of choice for our target audiences.

’We need to ensure continued improvement which is only possible with experienced and skilled workers.’

The Financial Assistance Scheme already includes export sectors including financial services, digital and engineering.

The island’s unemployment figure rose slightly last month.

It was 330, up five from October and up 11 from November 2017.

The official rate is 0.8%, although using International Labour Organisation methodology it is 1.8%.