The latest federal employment figures indicate that job growth in the U.S. travel industry is outpacing the rest of the country’s economic recovery, according to the U.S. Travel Association.
Labor Department data reveal that overall, the industry has been responsible for better than 7% of the economy’s total job growth since early 2010.
Earlier this month, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics released its latest jobs figures, which showed a slight uptick in employment in July and an essentially unchanged unemployment rate of 8.3%.
Total U.S. non-farm payroll employment rose by 163,000 in July, with 9,200 of those jobs coming from the travel sector, accounting for 6% of all U.S. job growth last month, according to U.S. Travel, which analyzed the Labor Department data.
“The travel industry continues to be one of the prime drivers of the nation’s economy,” David Huether, senior vice president of economics and research at U.S. Travel, said in a statement.
The 9,200 jobs added to the travel industry in July marked the largest increase the sector has seen in four months. A total of 63,700 jobs were added to the U.S. travel industry, or an average of 9,100 jobs per month, since January of this year.
Job growth in travel was mainly driven by increases in the restaurant and lodging sectors, according to U.S. Travel.
The domestic travel industry now directly employs 7.6 million people, U.S. Travel reported.
“Since the employment recovery began, travel has created nearly 287,300 new jobs, contributing 7.2% of overall job growth since early 2010,” Huether said. “The travel industry’s job growth continues to outpace the growth of the rest of the economy in employment recovery.”
U.S. Travel has long lobbied the government to pay greater attention to the U.S. travel industry and the contributions it makes to the nation’s economy.
That argument is increasingly resonating in Washington with legislation such as the Travel Promotion Act, which became law in 2010.
Positive jobs figures such as these further bolster the cause for federal support of the travel industry at a time when bipartisan politics heading into this year’s presidential elections could threaten some of the headway the industry has made.
For example, Brand USA, the public-private entity established by the Travel Promotion Act as a means to promote inbound travel to the U.S., recently came under fire from Republican lawmakers who challenged its spending and funding.
As it turned out, none of the spending they were criticizing had been paid for by taxpayers.
For the first time in history, the federal government is helping to fund the promotion of the U.S. as a destination, matching industry contributions to Brand USA on a 2-for-1 basis up to $100 million in 2012.
Last month, U.S. Travel reported that travel exports increased 12% for the first five months of 2012 compared with 2011, double the 6% increase seen in exports overall.
Numbers such as these underscore “the need to enact legislation, such as the JOLT Act, to increase international travel to the United States,” Huether said in last month’s release.
JOLT is an acronym for the Jobs Originated Through Launching Travel Act, which would streamline the visa process, expand the Visa Waiver Program and ease entry into the U.S., a process that Huether argued “wll create much-needed American jobs and contribute billions to the U.S. economy.”
Follow Michelle Baran on Twitter @mbtravelweekly.
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