Travel Industry Employment Increased in April

The U.S. economy added 165,000 jobs in April, bringing the unemployment rate down slightly to 7.5 percent, the U.S. Department of Labor announced Friday. According to the U.S. Travel Association, 13,300 of those jobs were created by the travel industry, which so far has added 85 percent of the jobs it lost during the Great Recession.

“The travel industry continues to lead the way to our nation’s economic growth and recovery, adding 13,300 jobs in April and contributing 8 percent of last month’s overall employment gain, the highest share since August,” U.S. Travel Association Senior Vice President of Research and Economics David Huether said in a statement. “With gains in nearly all major travel segment categories, including foodservices and drinking places, lodging, retail trade and airlines, direct travel employment now stands at 7.7 million.”

What’s more, employment growth in the travel industry is accelerating, according to Huether, averaging 13,000 per month so far this year, “a significantly faster rate than the average gain of 4,000 monthly travel jobs measured during the last four months of 2012.”

“The travel industry has added jobs 11 of the past 12 months,” Huether continued. “Since the economic recovery began in early 2010, travel has added jobs at a 15 percent faster pace than the rest of the economy, creating 398,000 jobs and making up 85 percent of the jobs lost during the recession compared to just 69 percent for the rest of the economy.”