U.S. Travel Says Industry Leads Economy in Job Growth

The U.S. Travel Association said the travel industry is recouping jobs faster than other industries. David Huether, senior vice president of economics and research at the U.S. Travel Association, commented on the Nov. 2 Labor Department report that the unemployment rate was 7.9 percent for October. “Today’s jobs numbers are more good news for the travel industry. At 7.6 million jobs in October, the travel industry has created 296,000 jobs since December 2009—adding jobs in 29 of the past 34 months. This data shows the travel industry has recovered 59 percent of the jobs lost during the Great Recession. By comparison, the rest of the economy has recouped just 51 percent of the jobs lost. Additionally, the travel industry has created jobs at a 16 percent faster pace than the rest of the economy since the overall employment recovery began in March of 2010. “The October Labor Department report shows that the economy added 171,000 jobs last month, including 6,000 more travel jobs, while the unemployment rate essentially remained unchanged at 7.9 percent last month. Taken together, today’s report shows that the labor market appears to be building positive momentum after modest growth earlier in the year. Over the past four months, the number of jobs added has been double that of the prior four months.” http://www.travelpulse.com/us-travel-says-industry-leads-economy-in-job-growth.html