US Travel and Tourism Employment Report – September 2021

As of the September 2021 jobs report, leisure and hospitality employment sits 9% below its pre-pandemic level; this is three percentage points worse than the next hardest-hit industry. After averaging 349,000 new L&H jobs per month between January and July 2021, the pace slowed to an average of just 56,000 new L&H jobs in both August and September 2021–a rate that would delay recovery until early 2023.

What you will learn:

• The leisure & hospitality industry accounted for 11% of pre-pandemic employment in the United States yet represents 32% of all job losses as of September 2021.
• The disappointing 194,000 total jobs gain in September marked the lowest monthly gain since December 2020. The services sector added 265,000 jobs –its weakest gain since January –as hiring slowed at restaurants and hotels.
• In September, 183,000 people exited the labor force, resulting in the labor force participation rate declining 0.1 percentage points to 61.6%.