Yes, the hospitality industry in Georgia lost a lot of jobs, but it may be the abrupt swing that matters more

 Calendar year percentage change in leisure and hospitality employment in Georgia, 2010-2020

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

By now, everyone knows the devastating impact that Covid-19-related shutdowns has had on Georgia’s hospitality industry. In 2020, the state’s leisure and hospitality sector employment declined by more than 10 percent; a loss of five years employment gains in only 12 months.

While the losses are severe, it is also important to consider how abruptly the change occurred and the emotional effect it has had on workers in that sector.

For the five years prior to 2020, leisure and hospitality employment in Georgia had grown on average nearly three percent per year compared to a 2.2 percent average for all private sector employment. More than 16 percent of the state’s net new jobs had been created by the leisure and hospitality sector between 2014 and 2019.

Employment swings within leisure and hospitality sector

To provide more perspective, the leisure and hospitality sector had added 13,900 jobs in 2019 before shedding 50,700 in 2020 according to information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a swing of 64,600 over two years.

The industry employing the most workers in the sector, the food services and drinking places industry, saw the largest swing, moving from a gain of 10,300 jobs in 2019 to a loss of 28,700 jobs in 2020, a swing of 39,000 in two years. In 2020, the industry gave up all of the job gains achieved since 2016.

The accommodation industry (mainly hotels and motels), while employing less than 10 percent of the workers in the leisure and hospitality sector, actually has taken the largest fall. The industry had seen a growth of 3,200 jobs in 2019 before recording a decline of 12,400 jobs in 2020, causing a swing of 15,600 over two years. With the 2020 decline, the accommodation industry in Georgia now employs fewer workers than it did in 2003.

For workers in both the accommodation and food services industries, the future remains very uncertain. The sharp drop-off of employment in two industries that were adding significant numbers of workers before 2020, means that career hopes for former employees in these industries have taken a sharp negative turn.