Restaurant Industry Expected to Add Fewer Summer Jobs in 2026

The restaurant industry is projected to add 450,000 jobs this summer, about 19,000 fewer than last year. A new analysis from the National Restaurant Association attributes that decrease to a shallower labor pool of teenagers and young adults, who traditionally make up the majority of summer seasonal hires.

According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there were roughly 6 million 16-to-19-year-olds in the labor force in April. While that number was 700,000 higher than the comparable pre-pandemic level in April 2019, it represents 200,000 fewer teenagers than in both April 2024 and April 2025. The number of teens in the workforce is still expected to eventually rise to about 7 million during the peak summer months when more schools are out of session, but the lower early-season numbers are likely to affect restaurant operators that were looking to get a jump on their seasonal hiring.

“The uncertain business environment is contributing to the softer seasonal hiring, as restaurant operators continue to face uneven customer traffic,” the National Restaurant Association said. “In addition, the industry’s prime labor pool — teenagers and young adults — is not as deep as it was last summer, which may lead to challenges filling some open positions.”

Teens make up about 20% of the restaurant industry workforce, and restaurants are the country’s largest employers of that age group. With fewer teenagers seeking jobs, eating and drinking places may seek to hire more older employees this summer. There were 12 million adults age 65 or older in the labor force in April 2026, according to the BLS, an increase from 11.7 million the year before. This group currently makes up only 3% of the overall restaurant workforce, but it may become more important in the years ahead as its share of the labor pool continues to rise. By 2034, the BLS predicts there will be 14.5 million adults age 65 or older in the workforce.

The full analysis is available here.