Restaurants to Add 448,000 Summer Jobs
WASHINGTON -- Restaurants are projected to add 448,000 jobs this summer season, a 4.5% increase over the March employment level. Ohio is expected to add 21,000 jobs, ranking the Buckeye State seventh overall.
“Summer is the busiest season for restaurants in most parts of the country, and the stronger business leads to additional employment opportunities at all levels of a restaurant operation,” said Bruce Grindy, chief economist for the National Restaurant Association. “The projected addition of 448,000 summer restaurant jobs will be driven by a national economy that continues to improve as well as consumers’ pent-up demand for restaurant services that remains at historically high levels.”
States projected to add the most eating and drinking place jobs are California (41,700), New York (40,700), Massachusetts (29,000), Texas (22,000), New Jersey (21,900), Michigan (21,200), Ohio (21,000) and Illinois (20,000).
Nationally, eating and drinking places added 427,200 jobs last summer, 465,400 jobs in 2011 and 427,100 jobs summer before that. The restaurant industry is usually the nation’s second-largest creator of summer jobs, ranking only behind the construction industry. “In many states with tourism-driven economies, restaurants satisfy both tourists’ cravings for food, as well as job-seekers’ hunger for employment,” Grindy noted.
States projected to register the largest proportional employment increase are Maine (31.2% increase), Alaska (22.5%), Delaware (16.8%) and Rhode Island (15.6%).
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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