U.S. Hotel Jobs Recovery Stalls, Unemployment Rises
Photo Credit: The U.S. hotel unemployment rate jumped more than 4 percent in January due to a longer-than-expected travel recovery. Flickr / Elizabeth Backus
Skift Take
The slow winter travel season, delayed vaccination schedules, and people giving up on hotel jobs are pushing the hospitality sector unemployment figures up once again. More vaccines can speed up the recovery (the industry hopes).
The U.S. hotel sector’s unemployment rate is once again on the rise, as experts point to a slower-than-expected vaccine rollout hindering the industry’s recovery.
American hotels lost a combined 18,000 jobs in January, moving the industry unemployment rate up to 23.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
The hotel industry continues to remain out of step with the national unemployment rate average — the U.S. unemployment rate fell to 6.3 percent last month — but still significantly lower than the 48.9 percent seen last April, the first full month of the pandemic.
January also marks the first time the hotel unemployment r
