The second Hospitality Employment Index shows that businesses are actively recruiting across all industries, particularly for more senior and highly skilled staff, and gearing themselves to the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games and other major sporting events. Recent figures show a vigorous hospitality jobs market that has almost doubled with new job vacancies soaring from 26,550 in the second quarter of 2009 to a staggering 45,000 new roles in the same quarter of 2011. The number of job applications too has rocketed by over a third from 640,000 to 800,000 submissions in the past year, reflecting increasing competition in the jobs market. Much of this growth comes from increasing demand for competent restaurant managers and skilled chefs and highlights the ongoing difficulty that businesses have in recruiting skilled staff. The quarterly Index charts the number of job vacancies and applications made on Caterer.com and provides the most comprehensive analysis of trends emerging within the UK's hospitality sector. Brian Wisdom, chief executive of People 1st said: "The Hospitality Employment Index is a strong indicator of the sector's economic health and clearly shows that sector businesses are more confident and buoyant about their future. "There are far more fantastic opportunities now than ever before for high calibre staff and it is anticipated that this will continue beyond the New Year as businesses review their staffing and recruitment needs. "Thousands of workers will be needed in hospitality and businesses need to be thinking now about the implications that the Games will have on their business and whether they have the right quantity and levels of staff in place."