Hospitality job openings drop 24%, squeezing event workers before the holidays
Restaurants added 10,800 jobs in September, a third of August's pace, and BLS cut summer payrolls by 60,000. Event staff face more competition for December shifts, while hirers get more applicants but not more veterans.
Hotels, restaurants and bars had 713,000 job openings in August, 229,000 fewer than a year earlier, as employers head into the holiday staffing season. The September jobs report showed a slow market, too: U.S. employers added 29,000 jobs and unemployment was 4.2%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which also revised July and August payrolls down by a combined 60,000.
That 24% drop in openings is the clearer warning sign. Restaurants and bars added 10,800 jobs, about a third of their August gain, and leisure and hospitality as a whole added about 10,000. For event staff, fewer openings mean more people chasing each holiday shift. For hirers, they mean more applicants, though not more experienced ones in every role.
Revisions made the summer weaker than reported
The September gain was small. The revisions were the bigger news. BLS turned July from a gain of 21,000 into a loss of 10,000 and cut August from 162,000 to 133,000, per the September release.
| Month | First reported | Revised | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| July | +21,000 | -10,000 | -31,000 |
| August | +162,000 | +133,000 | -29,000 |
| September | +29,000 | First estimate | None yet |
Added together, the revised figures put job growth at about 152,000 over three months, or roughly 50,000 a month. BLS described both September payrolls and the unemployment rate as little changed.
The gain fell well short of forecasts. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected about 90,000 jobs and an unemployment rate of 4.1%, Yahoo Finance reported. Health care led the month with 17,000 jobs, below its average monthly gain of 33,000 over the past year.
Restaurant hiring cooled after an August rebound
Inside leisure and hospitality, restaurants carried the month. Food services and drinking places added 10,800 jobs, while accommodation, which includes hotels, lost about 3,600, according to BLS Table B-1.
That 10,800 is about a third of August's gain of 33,800, Nation's Restaurant News reports. The longer view is steadier than one month suggests. Restaurants lost jobs in June and July, then added jobs in August and September.
| Month | Jobs added or lost | Total employed |
|---|---|---|
| June | -7,000 | 12.378 million |
| July | -29,600 | 12.348 million |
| August | +33,800 | 12.382 million |
| September | +10,800 | 12.393 million |
Restaurants expanded payrolls for the second consecutive month in September.
Before seasonal adjustment, restaurants shed about 148,400 jobs from August to September, NRN reports. That is the usual end-of-summer drop, and it is why the adjusted figures are the ones to compare month to month.
Hospitality job openings fell 24% in a year
Openings show the market a job seeker faces better than payroll counts do. In August, accommodation and food services had 713,000 job openings, according to the BLS JOLTS report released Sept. 29. A year earlier there were 942,000. That is 229,000 fewer openings, and the openings rate fell from 6.2% to 4.7%.
Hiring held up better than openings. Employers in the sector made 750,000 hires in August, down from 779,000 a year earlier. Quits fell from 556,000 to 507,000. Fewer people are leaving jobs on their own, so fewer spots open up behind them.
What it means for event staff and hirers
The rest of this section is our read of the data, not a forecast from BLS or the industry groups.
For event staff: more competition for each shift
With fewer openings and fewer quits, restaurant and hotel workers have fewer places to move. Some will pick up event shifts to fill their hours, and they join the pool you compete in for holiday banquets, catering jobs and company parties. You win more of those shifts by being easy to book and easy to rebook.
Browse event jobs by role and city, and check bartender pay and banquet server pay before you accept an offer.
For hirers: more applicants, uneven depth
If you staff events for an agency or run them in-house, a softer market brings more applicants per post. It does not bring more experienced ones in every role. Bartenders, banquet captains and any role that needs certification or high-volume experience are still where screening takes the most time.
Hospitality pay is still rising faster than pay overall. Average hourly earnings for all leisure and hospitality employees were $23.90 in September, BLS Table B-3 shows, up 14 cents from August and about 3.9% from a year earlier by our calculation. Across all private industries, earnings rose 0.1% for the month to $37.81 and 3.0% over the year. Build December rates from current local pay, not last year's.
Agencies can list open shifts on eventstaffing.com.
