Restaurants added nearly 20k jobs in July

Restaurant job growth slowed in recent months, while other indicators suggest a stabilization in the industry workforce.

Eating and drinking places* added a net 19,500 jobs in July on a seasonally-adjusted basis, according to preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). That came on the heels of upward-revised readings in both May (revised from +11,200 to +16,500) and June (revised from -3,100 to unchanged).

Looking past the recent choppiness, the recent data indicate a slowdown in restaurant job growth from the strong pandemic-recovery pace. On average during the last 4 months, eating and drinking places added just 7,200 jobs each month. That was less than a third of the average monthly gains of nearly 23,000 jobs during the previous 15 months.

While job growth slowed in recent months, the size of the industry workforce continued to expand its distance beyond pre-pandemic levels. As of June 2024, eating and drinking places were nearly 64,000 jobs (or 0.5%) above their February 2020 employment peak.

Fewer job openings

Coincident with the recent slowdown in restaurant job growth was a normalization in measures of labor market churn. There were 866,000 job openings in the combined restaurants and accommodations sector on the last business day of June, according to preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS).

That represented the second consecutive month in which job openings were below the 2019 average of 875,000. It was also well below the record highs of more than 1.5 million openings registered several months during 2021 and 2022.

Keeping the teams together

More importantly, restaurant operators are having much more success retaining the employees that they have, relative to recent years. Only 3.8% of employees in the combined restaurants and accommodations sector quit their jobs in June, according to preliminary data from BLS.

Excluding the early-pandemic months, that was the lowest monthly quit rate since May 2015 (3.7%). It also represented the 5th consecutive month in which the quit rate was below the 2019 monthly average of 4.9%.

Note: The job openings and quits data presented above are for the broadly-defined Accommodations and Food Services sector (NAICS 72), because the Bureau of Labor Statistics does not report data for restaurants alone. Eating and drinking places account for nearly 90% of jobs in the combined sector.

Fullservice segment still down 236k jobs

The fullservice segment experienced the most job losses during the initial months of the pandemic – and it still has the longest path to recovery. As of June 2024, fullservice restaurant employment levels were 236,000 jobs (or 4%) below pre-pandemic readings in February 2020.

Employment counts in the cafeterias/grill buffets/buffets segment (-31%) also remained below their February 2020 levels.

Job losses in the limited-service segments were somewhat less severe during the initial months of the pandemic, as these operations were more likely to retain staff to support their existing off-premises business. As of June 2024, employment at snack and nonalcoholic beverage bars – including coffee, donut and ice cream shops – was nearly 121,000 jobs (or 15%) above February 2020 readings.

Staffing levels in the quickservice and fast casual segments were nearly 148,000 jobs (or 3%) above pre-pandemic levels. Headcounts at bars and taverns were 32,000 jobs (or 7%) above the pre-pandemic peak.

[Note that the segment-level employment figures are lagged by one month, so June is the most current data available.]

Restaurant workforce trends uneven across states

Restaurant employment trends continue to vary significantly by state. As of June 2024, 15 states and the District of Columbia had fewer eating and drinking place jobs than they did in June 2019.

This group was led by Maryland, Louisiana and North Dakota, which had 6% fewer eating and drinking place jobs in June 2024 than they did in June 2019. Hawaii (-5%), DC (-4%), Illinois (-3%) and Alaska (-3%) were also below their pre-pandemic restaurant employment levels.

As of June 2024, eating and drinking place employment in 35 states surpassed their comparable pre-pandemic readings in June 2019. This group was led by South Dakota (+18%), Nevada (+15%), Utah (+14%), Idaho (+11%) and Texas (+10%).

[Note that the state-level analysis uses June 2019 as the pre-pandemic comparison instead of February 2020, because seasonally-adjusted employment figures are not available.]

*Eating and drinking places are the primary component of the total restaurant and foodservice industry, providing jobs for roughly 80% of the total restaurant and foodservice workforce of 15.5 million.

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