U.S. Hotels Show Surprising Hiring Boost in Omicron-Heavy January
Photo Credit: Hotels picked up a surprisingly strong round of hiring during the first month of the year. Michelle_Raponi / Pixabay
Skift Take
It was an unexpected sign of hiring strength for U.S. hotels at the beginning of 2022, but the industry still needs to find ways to close a labor shortage gap before the busy summer travel season.
The U.S. hotel sector, defying expectations of Omicron-related hiring problems, in January saw its strongest pace of hiring since last fall.
The accommodation sector added 23,000 jobs last month after several months of negligible job gains, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. The industry’s unemployment rate is at 8 percent, higher than the 4 percent national average but significantly more in step with the overall figure than earlier in the pandemic when industry unemployment approached 50 percent.
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