Domino’s Pizza Group is planning to hire 8,000 delivery drivers in the UK and Ireland despite what it described as a “challenging” labour market as businesses across the country struggle to find workers. More than half of the jobs will be permanent as it seeks to continue to meet growing demand as well as temporary workers for the seasonal Christmas rush. Companies across the UK are reporting staff shortages as the economic recovery from the pandemic coincides with other problems such as stricter post-Brexit rules on immigration by EU citizens. UK job vacancies rose to a record high of 1.2m in September, according to government data. The hospitality industry reported 134,000 vacancies – double the pre-pandemic level. The hiring difficulties have added to pressures in company supply chains, including delays in shipping goods that have pushed up costs. However, Dominic Paul, Domino’s chief executive, said the pizza company’s supply chain had coped well “despite the well-publicised inflationary pressures and challenging labour market”. He added: “While we see these pressures continuing into 2022, our success in managing them to date provides us with confidence that our growth momentum will be sustained.” Domino’s reported sales of £376m in its financial quarter ending on 26 September, an increase of 10% on the equivalent period in 2020 and 20% on 2019, before the pandemic. The 8,000 new jobs will be the second hiring spree of the year for the company, after it said in June that it would hire 5,000 pizza chefs and delivery drivers. The company, whose branches are run under a franchise model, aims to open another 200 locations in the next few years. The difficulties in hiring have led some businesses to offer higher pay to new and existing workers to prevent them from jumping ship. There are signs of pay inflation across the income spectrum. The London-listed recruiter Hays on Thursday reported that fees from the UK and Ireland were up by 45% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2021. There are “clear signs of skill shortages and wage inflation, particularly at higher salary levels,” said Alistair Cox, Hays’ chief executive.