Hiring in the restaurant industry slowed in October, as eating and drinking places added only 6,000 jobs for the month, according to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That marks a decrease from 69,000 new jobs in September but matches the 6,000 new jobs in August.
The numbers reflect an up-and-down pattern in recent months, as noted by the National Restaurant Association. July saw a similar peak of 82,800 jobs added but June was notably lower with only 27,500 new jobs. Despite the uneven hiring trends, the restaurant industry has now logged 22 consecutive months of restaurant employment growth, adding nearly 2.1 million jobs since the low point of the pandemic. Still, eating and drinking places remain 565,000 jobs (4.6 percent) below their pre-pandemic staffing levels – the largest deficit among all U.S. industries, according to the National Restaurant Association.
With hiring down, the accommodation and foodservices sector had more than 1.346 million job openings at the end of September, according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report, an increase from 1.204 million in August and the highest mark since March 2022. The overall economy had 10.7 million job openings for the same period.