Travel Jobs Down in September
Because of Government Shutdown, October Figures Expected to Be Worse
WASHINGTON - October 23, 2013 - David Huether, senior vice president of research and economics at the U.S. Travel Association, comments on today's Labor Department announcement that the U.S. economy added 148,000 jobs in September while the unemployment rate edged down to 7.2 percent:
"Consistent with weak performances in many sectors of the economy, positive employment growth in the travel industry paused in September, with the number of workers employed in travel edging down by 2,800. Although jobs in transportation increased in the month, jobs loss was seen in some key travel segments such as lodging, amusements, gambling, recreation, food services and drinking places.
Still, since the employment recovery started in early 2010, the travel industry has been a significant source of employment growth for the economy, adding almost a half million jobs. Travel has outpaced employment growth in the rest of the economy, making up 88 percent of jobs lost during the recession, compared to 80 percent of jobs in all other sectors.
The slowdown in employment growth clearly shows that the economy still hasn't been nursed all the way back to full health yet—and today's report doesn't even reflect the October government shutdown, which cost the overall economy $152 million per day in travel-related spending and potentially affected 450,000 workers. Unfortunately, we can expect next month's report to show that travel employment was badly hampered by the shutdown, and by itself it should send a clear message to policymakers in Washington: please don't put the economy through this again when the current fiscal deal expires in a couple of months."
Contacts:
Cathy Keefe, (O) 202.408.2183, (C) 703.899.7031
Chris Kennedy, (O) 202.218.3603, (C) 202.465.6635
The U.S. Travel Association is the national, non-profit organization representing all components of the travel industry that generates $2.0 trillion in economic output and supports 14.6 million jobs. U.S. Travel's mission is to increase travel to and within the United States. Visit www.ustravel.org.
Follow us on Twitter @ustravel.
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