New York City job growth led by leisure and hospitality sector

New York City’s leisure and hospitality sector drove job growth throughout the recession, according to data released Monday morning by NYC & Company.

The city’s official tourism board released a new report highlighting the city’s tourism growth over the past six years in an effort to showcase the organization’s impact since launch.

According to the report, tourism supported 363,050 hospitality and leisure jobs in 2012. This is a 27.4 percent increase over six years; an average of 13,033 tourism jobs were added each year.

There was a drop in leisure and hospitality jobs in the midst of the recession; 1,708 jobs were lost in 2008.

The leisure and hospitality sector includes all jobs related to performing arts, sporting events, cultural institutions, accommodations, restaurants, and drinking places.

Leisure and hospitality industries were responsible for more job creation than any other industry in that time; however, it is not the largest industry in the city.

Education and health services (785.2 thousand), professional and business services (619.3 thousand), and trade, transportation and utilities (587.7 thousand) employ more people in New York City than leisure and hospitality (363.1 thousand), according to current employment statistics from the New York State Department of Labor.