According to official stats issued on Friday 4th February 2022, the leisure and hospitality industry hired 151,000 employments in January, accounting for roughly a third of all positions added to the US economy. The strong performance alleviated concerns that the Omicron variation would deter people from returning to the workforce.
Restaurants hired 108,000 people, while hotels and accommodation added 23,000, even though both sectors are still hampered by the still ongoing pandemic.
2.9 million fewer individuals are working in the United States than there were before the pandemic, with the leisure and hospitality business accounting for 62 percent of that difference, or 1.8 million jobs. A 42-story luxury hotel in Times Square that was once valued at $2.4 billion was auctioned off last month as part of a foreclosure procedure less than three years after it debuted.
The job market performance for most sectors was better than expectations. Economists and Wall Street experts were predicting a weak jobs report or modest increase in employment for the month of January but the market performance surprised everyone as it showed highly positive signs. Most of the employment gains were noticed in leisure and hospitality, in professional and business services, retail trade, transportation and warehousing industries.
Many of the fears have been allayed due to strong hiring in January, along with the biggest annual increase in wages since May 2020.
“We still have a lot of work to do,” said Biden at the White House. “Making sure every American has a job, it’s a great start, but it’s not the finish.”
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