Brexit Is Costing Cornwall, England Its Hotel Bartenders

Cornwall, the southwest peninsula of Britain, is struggling to find enough bartenders to serve the millions who flock to the rocky coastline every year. Any prospect of recruiting cheap labor from the continent has dried up after the region voted along with the rest of the country to leave the European Union. More significantly, pubs and hotels are coping with ageing, dwindling workforce that often doesn’t have the right skills. This gets to the heart of the productivity problem in the U.K., which is dogged with some of weakest growth in output per hour worked among Group-of-Seven nations. Famed for the Cornish pasty, a meat-filled pastry, Cornwall’s beaches, and pirate coves attract 4.5 million annual visitors. A welcoming smile and the ability to pour the perfect pint of beer may seem like the main qualifications for a job behind a bar.