Accommodation & Food Service Snapshot

Accommodation and food services, once a powerhouse of the labor market, began losing jobs in January 2024. Ever since, it has been a relatively weak year, with employment leveling off before completely regaining the jobs lost during the pandemic. Over the last three months, the sector experienced gains and losses, coming out of June with just 100 net new jobs. In April, the sector lost 7,900 net new jobs, in May it added 10,400, and in June again experienced losses of 2,400.  

Much of this weakness comes from the once-strong food services sector. That subsector grew strongly as it recovered from the pandemic losses, finally reaching its pre-pandemic level in December 2023. Ever since, food services and drinking places subsector has struggled. In June, the subsector lost 3,100 jobs. Meanwhile, the accommodation sector is still down 10% from its February 2020 level and has completely stagnated around that level. In June, it added just 700 jobs.