Accommodation & Food Service Snapshot

The accommodation and food services sector continues to steadily add jobs, though not at the same pace seen during the post-COVID boom. American consumers are still revenge-spending to some degree, going out to restaurants and drinking places that they were barred from during the pandemic – though it is slowing. As we turn toward summer, demand for labor at these establishments will jump, and this winter’s performance was nothing to turn our noses up at.

In March, the dominant food services sector added a strong 28,300 net new jobs, while the accommodations sector added 3,200 jobs, for a total of 31,500 in the month. That matches exactly the gains in February, which was a rebound from the loss of 21,600 jobs in January. Growth in the first quarter of the year was steady.