Travel employment outpacing rest of US economy

A US Labor Department report shows that the travel industry is outpacing the rest of the US economy by 34%, and that the industry has recovered more than half of the jobs lost during the recession. David Huether, senior vice-president of economics and research at the U.S. Travel Association, provided an analysis of the report and noted, “This February, the number of workers employed directly in the travel industry increased by 8,000 to 7.6 million. The major increases in travel jobs were in restaurants, lodging, and amusements/gambling/recreation industries. Last month’s employment rise marked the 11th increase in the past 12 months for the travel industry.”He added, “Since February 2011, travel employment has increased by 129,000. And since the employment recovery began, the travel industry has created more than 250,000 new jobs, accounting for more than seven percent of overall job growth since early 2010. This is primarily due to the fact that the pace of job creation in the travel industry has exceeded that of the rest of the economy by 34%. As a result of this faster job growth, the travel industry has now recovered more than half of the 496,000 jobs lost during the great recession, while the rest of the economy has made up just 39%.”