Travel Employment Falls in July After Robust June Growth

After registering solid gains in June with 12,200 jobs, travel employment declined slightly by 2,500 in July—a marked departure from the overall nationwide growth of 164,000 jobs for the month. The decline in travel employment in July is consistent with U.S. Travel’s monthly Travel Trends Index, which anticipates travel volume to and within the U.S. will decelerate during the second half of the year.

Employment in the lodging industry declined by 5,200 after a consecutive seven-month increase. So far in 2019, travel added 55,200 jobs and contributed 4.8% to total nonfarm job increases in the first seven months of the year.

This is the first travel jobs contraction since April, and is particularly notable because it comes amid an overall trend of healthy domestic jobs growth. While a one-month decline is not indicative of a larger trend, there could be cause for concern if the slide continues in the coming months.

With total nonfarm payroll employment rising by 164,000 in July, the overall unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.7%.