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Leisure and Hospitality

About the Leisure and Hospitality supersector

The leisure and hospitality supersector is part of the service-providing industries supersector group.

The leisure and hospitality supersector consists of these sectors:

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment and unemployment in leisure and hospitality. While most data are obtained from employer or establishment surveys, information on industry unemployment comes from a national survey of households. The following tables present an overview of the industry including the number of jobs, the unemployment rate of those previously employed in the industry, job openings and labor turnover, union membership and representation, gross job gains and losses, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment, Unemployment, and Openings, Hires, and Separations

Data series Back
data
Feb.
2024
Mar.
2024
Apr.
2024
May
2024

Employment (in thousands)

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

16,839 (p)16,892 (p)16,897  

Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted)

14,720 (p)14,770 (p)14,768  

Unemployment

Unemployment rate

5.9% 5.5% 5.7% 5.9%

Job openings, hires, and separations (in thousands)

Job openings

1,099 1,282 (p)1,265  

Hires

834 1,013 (p)1,108  

Separations

759 847 (p)891  

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey)

Union Membership and Representation

Data series Back
data
2019 2020 2021 2022

Union membership and representation

Members of unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

2.9% 2.2% 2.2% 2.8%

Represented by unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

3.5% 2.8% 2.7% 3.4%

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Dynamic Changes in Employment

Data series Back
data
4th quarter
2022
1st quarter
2023
2nd quarter
2023
3rd quarter
2023

Dynamic changes in employment (in thousands)

Gross job gains

1,459 1,464 1,423 1,330

Gross job losses

1,224 1,182 1,375 1,436

(Source: Business Employment Dynamics)

Projections

For projected (future) employment estimates in leisure and hospitality, see the Employment and projected employment by major industry sector table.

(Source: Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections)

Earnings and Hours

This section presents data on employee earnings and weekly hours. The latest industry averages of hourly earnings and weekly hours, as well as weekly earnings by union membership status, are shown. This section also contains information on the average cost of benefits paid by employers, as well as recent rates of change in wages and total compensation.

Earnings and Hours of All Employees

Data series Back
data
Jan.
2024
Feb.
2024
Mar.
2024
Apr.
2024

Average hourly earnings

$21.67 $21.77 (p)$21.89 (p)$21.92

Average weekly hours

25.3 25.6 (p)25.5 (p)25.4

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees

Data series Back
data
Jan.
2024
Feb.
2024
Mar.
2024
Apr.
2024

Average hourly earnings

$19.22 $19.28 (p)$19.31 (p)$19.40

Average weekly hours

24.0 24.3 (p)24.3 (p)24.1

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Employee Benefits

This section presents data on the incidence (the percentage of workers with access to and participation in employer-provided benefit plans) and provisions of selected employee benefits from the National Compensation Survey. More Benefits estimates are also accessible from the Benefits database, the archived NCS publications page, and the complete Employee Benefits Excel dataset (XLSX).

Data series Access Participation
Back
data
2023 Back
data
2023

Private industry

Retirement benefit plans

33 16

Defined benefit plans

1 1

Defined contribution plans

32 15

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Data series After 1 year of service After 20 years of service
Back
data
2023 Back
data
2023

Mean number of vacation days for private industry workers without consolidated leave plans

6 13

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Data series Back
data
2023

Percent of private industry workers with access to employer-sponsored benefits

Health care

34

Paid vacation

42

Paid sick leave

50

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Employer Compensation Costs

Data series Back
data
4th quarter
2022
1st quarter
2023
2nd quarter
2023
3rd quarter
2023

Private industry

12-month percent change

Total compensation

6.4% 5.9% 5.4% 4.4%

Wages and salaries

6.6% 6.0% 5.5% 4.5%

3-month percent change

Total compensation

0.7% 1.8% 1.1% 0.8%

Wages and salaries

0.7% 1.7% 1.1% 0.8%

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

Data series Private industry
Compensation component
($ per hour worked)
Percent of total compensation
Back
data
3rd quarter 2023 Back
data
3rd quarter 2023

Total compensation

18.87 100.0

Wages and salaries

15.41 81.7

Total benefits

3.46 18.3

Insurance

0.68 3.6

Retirement

0.18 0.9

Paid leave

0.56 2.9

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

Union Membership and Representation

Data series Back
data
Median weekly earnings
2019 2020 2021 2022

Union membership and representation

Full-time workers

$601 $624 $650 $707

Members of unions

$722 $741 $752 $788

Represented by unions

$698 $772 $756 $813

Nonunion

$597 $620 $645 $703

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Work-related Fatalities, Injuries, and Illnesses

This section presents data for the industry on the number of workplace fatalities and the rates of workplace injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers in leisure and hospitality. An injury or illness is considered to be work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition.

Data series 2018 2019 2020 2021

Fatalities

Number of fatalities

258 278 230 255

Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

Data series 2020

Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers

Total recordable cases

2.7

Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer

1.3

Cases involving days away from work

0.9

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

0.4

Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

(Source: Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments and the number of establishments experiencing job gains or job losses in leisure and hospitality.

Establishments

Data series Back
data
4th quarter
2022
1st quarter
2023
2nd quarter
2023
3rd quarter
2023

Number of establishments

Private industry

947,852 (p)951,668 (p)962,500  

Local government

4,649 (p)4,653 (p)4,650  

State government

936 (p)953 (p)956  

Federal government

1,431 (p)1,436 (p)1,448  

Establishments with changes in employment (in thousands)

With job gains (seasonally adjusted)

302 300 282 263

With job losses (seasonally adjusted)

284 283 301 315

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Business Employment Dynamics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Productivity

This section presents productivity and related data for the industry, presented as the percent change from the previous year. Measures of total factor productivity (TFP) compare growth in output to the growth in a combination of inputs that include labor, capital, energy, materials, and services. Measures of labor productivity, or output per hour, compare the growth in output to the growth in hours worked.

Data series Back
data
2017 2018 2019 2020

Total factor productivity (TFP)

0.4 -0.7 0.6 -8.9

Output

3.2 2.4 2.4 -25.8

Combined inputs

2.7 3.1 1.8 -18.6

Capital input

1.7 2.1 2.3 2.2

Labor input

2.2 2.2 0.9 -21.8

Labor productivity, output per hour

1.1 0.8 1.4 -6.0

(Source: Productivity)

 

Data extracted on: July 23, 2024