Last Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics published the September Employment Situation, reporting a decrease in the unemployment rate from last month. The unemployment rate for September closed at 3.5 percent as the labor market added 263,000 jobs. September’s jobs report was better than experts initially forecasted, but the employment growth was still less than August’s increase of 315,000 and the monthly average gain of over 400,000 during the first half of the year.
The leisure and hospitality industry added 83,000 jobs in September, in line with the average monthly job gain over the first 8 months of the year. While there were job gains in hospitality last month, the industry remains below its pre-pandemic February 2020 level, thus affecting America’s hotel owners.
The Wall Street Journal interviewed AAHOA President & CEO Laura Lee Blake on the recent employment numbers and the hotel labor shortage.
During the interview, Blake shared that filling hotel positions has been a top concern among the nearly 20,000 AAHOA Members.
Some hotel owners have implemented self-check-in kiosks, but some roles, such as cleaning rooms, don’t have an automated solution.
“One member had their parents come out of retirement to help cover some of the shifts simply because they didn’t have enough staff,” Ms. Blake said. “I have not heard any discussions about layoffs. It’s more about how they’re so desperate to find people.”
Read More on Blake’s Interview with WSJ
Original source can be found here.
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