Restaurants And Bars Added 30,000 Jobs In June, Following Mixed Gains Earlier In Year

The foodservice jobs engine went into idle mode several months this year, thanks in part to a tough winter. But with eating and drinking places adding 29,900 net new jobs in June, the rebound in growth has the industry poised for employment gains exceeding 3.5%, according to the National Restaurant Association’s Chief Economist Bruce Grindy. It would be the fourth consecutive year the industry has grown jobs by at least that percentage, he wrote in a June 2 release.

“Although growth has been somewhat choppy during the first half of the year,” he wrote, “both the restaurant industry and the overall economy are on pace to improve on their 2014 employment gains.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data has total U.S. employment up 2.2% for the first six months of 2015 compared with 1.9% growth during the same period in 2014. Should the trend hold, it would be the first year total employment growth has exceeded 2% since the beginning of the Great Recession.

Bar and restaurant employment has risen 3.7% in the first six months, ahead of last year’s 3.5% total year gain, but slightly slower than the 3.9% sector growth of 2013. If the trends hold for both foodservice and the general economy, 2015 will be the 16^th consecutive year that eating- and drinking-place jobs growth has exceeded that of the general economy, Grindy noted. The complete release, including data comparing restaurant-industry with total-economy jobs growth back to 2009 can be found at restaurant.org/News-Research/Research/Economist’s-Notebook. “””