Dive Brief:
- Since November 2018, wages for new hires in leisure and hospitality have jumped 38%, making the industry second only to the trade, transportant and utilities sector for pay increases, according to labor market and employee performance intelligence provider ADP Research.
- Leisure and hospitality was also the only sector to post double-digit annual pay gains for employees who stayed in their roles between November 2021 and February 2023 — bucking conventional wisdom that job switching results in higher wages, according to ADP Research.
- Since the pandemic, leisure and hospitality employers, facing labor shortages, have worked hard to acquire and retain talent, making workers in the sector “pay winners,” ADP Research noted.
Dive Insight:
Between March and April of 2020, the leisure and hospitality sector cut more than 8 million jobs, ADP noted, citing the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Since then, though, jobs have “roared” back, according to ADP.
Wages in leisure and hospitality began to rise in February 2021, when they were a medium hourly wage of $11, and growth did not decelerate until July 2022, when the median wage was $14, ADP found.
In addition to rising wages for new hires, job-stayers have also enjoyed wage growth. Since December 2022, workers who have stayed in their roles have posted larger year-over-year gains than those who have switched jobs.
In January, the American Hotel & Lodging Association projected U.S. hotels would pay employees a record $123 billion in 2024 — up 4% from 2023 and 20% from 2019 — as hotel managers struggled to fill open roles.
In November, leisure and hospitality employment trended up, adding 53,000 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly job report. Most of that growth was led by employment in food services and drinking places, per the report.
Leisure and hospitality added an average of 21,000 jobs per month over the prior 12 months, according to BLS.
Some pay raises were won by hospitality unions in recent months, as hotel workers in cities across the country held strikes to advocate for higher wages. Union workers in Hawaii, Massachusetts, California, Rhode Island and Connecticut secured pay increases in newly negotiated five-year contracts.
Hotel workers in San Francisco and Las Vegas are currently striking for higher wages.
