U.S. Hotels Saw Much-Needed Boost in Hiring Last Month
Photo Credit: Hotels saw significant job gains last month, but the industry has to maintain the momentum to meet summer travel demand. PxFuel
Skift Take
Don’t let the rise in the hotel industry’s unemployment rate fool you. This was one of the strongest months for hotel hiring since the start of the pandemic.
The U.S. hotel industry added 75,000 jobs in June, the second-highest rate of monthly employment growth since the start of the pandemic.
The boost in hiring arrives after months of hotel owners and operators noting employment levels were nowhere close to where they needed to be to accommodate the expected explosion in summer leisure travel demand.
While the June jobs report is a win for the hotel sector, the industry’s leading lobbyist group notes there is still a significant gap between hotel employment today and where it was pre-pandemic.
“It's just a slow, steady climb, and we continue to lag the rest of the economy,” said American Hotel & Lodging Association CEO Chip Rogers. “In that climb, are things better than they were six months ago? Absolutely. But we're not out of the danger zone yet.”
The hotel industry’s unemployment rate actually went up last month to 17.6 percent, which is still significantly higher than the 5.8 percent national average. The h
