U.S. Job Growth in Travel for July Rises Despite Labor Shortages
Photo Credit: Shown here is the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Michigan. It's one of several hotels across the country that hires seasonal workers for its peak season and is affected by the tighter labor market. Grand Hotel / Don Johnston
Skift Take
A strong job market means lots of consumers are spending on domestic travel. But rising wages and recently tightened rules on visas for seasonal workers are pressuring some sectors. We take a sector-by-sector look.
The U.S. leisure and hospitality sector added 35,000 jobs in July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. This category of workers, which is a proxy for the larger travel industry, employed 805,000 workers last month.
The U.S. economy as a whole added 164,000 jobs in July, and the national unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.7 percent, which was near a half-century low.
Hotels, airlines, resorts, travel agencies, and other employers saw continued tightness in many regional labor markets. Labor shortages have been a megatrend Skift has been tracking this year.
Hotels and Inns
The lodging sector is travel's largest employer. In July, 2.2 million people worked in leisure and hospitality accommodation, a rise of 7.8 percent compared to the number of workers during the same month a year ago.
"This is the tightest labor market we have seen in a generation," said Brian Crawford, EVP of government affairs at the American Hotel & Lodging Association.
Hotels and
