By now there is no secret that temporary shutdowns and permanent closures related to the Coronavirus and efforts to combat it fell heavily on Georgia’s leisure and hospitality sector. Over the first six months of 2020, the sector saw a 20 percent drop in employment and a 36-percentage drop in employee total wages. This compares to an 8.5 percent decline in the state’s total workforce and a 12 percent drop in total wages.
The good news is that since the end of June, the leisure and
hospitality sector in Georgia has rebounded partially, but it is still important
to understand how different industries within the sector fared in the first
half of 2020.
Not all businesses within retail trade, leisure and
hospitality, or personal services had the same employment effects. Some
businesses have actually boosted their employment and payrolls as business increased
even as other businesses saw cutbacks and closures.
In terms of providing assistance to businesses during times
of pandemic and afterwards, it is important to distinguish both between businesses
that suffered and prospered but also to distinguish to what extent employees
and payrolls were affected in different parts of each industrial sector.
Retailers - Employment
Retailers in Georgia that normally see employment losses in
the first months after Christmas saw those employment and payroll losses
continue into the second quarter of the year. Retail employment dropped 5
percent (-25,577 workers) between December and March, and then from April to
June, retail trade employment lost another 3.3 percent (-16,098).
As a percentage of the labor force, the worse hit employment
groups within the retail trade were clothing and clothing accessories stores,
down 27.5 percent (-9,936 workers) in the second quarter of 2020; sports,
hobby, music instrument, and book stores, down 16 percent (-2,269); and
furniture and home furnishing stores that declined 14.8 percent (-2,691).
In contrast, some retailers saw significant growth in their
workforces, including building material and garden supply stores, up 7.6
percent (3,187) and food and beverage stores, which includes grocery retailers,
whose workforce rose by 7 percent (6,466).
General merchandise stores that carry a mix of groceries and
other merchandise certainly picked part of the trade that might have otherwise
gone to more specialized retailers, such as clothing stores, but as the numbers
indicate, the general merchandise stores did not add sufficient employment to
offset the employment losses by specialty retailers.
The same was true for the category of food and beverages
stores, which includes grocery stores. Grocery stores added more than 6,400
people in the second quarter of the year, but this did not make up for the job
losses among specialty retailers.
Retail industry groups by change in employment in Georgia
from March to June 2020
·
Clothing and clothing accessories stores -27.47%
(-9,936 employees)
·
Sports, hobby, music instrument, and book stores
-16.04% (-2,269)
·
Furniture and home furnishings stores -14.78%
(-2,691)
·
Miscellaneous store retailers -12.9% (-2,790)
·
Motor vehicle and parts dealers -7.89% (-5,391)
·
Electronics and appliance stores -3.88% (-643)
·
Gasoline stations 0.39% (120)
·
General merchandise stores 0.65% (677)
·
Food and beverage stores 7.01% (6,466)
·
Building material and garden supply stores 7.59%
(3,187)
Retailers – Wages
As with employment, the total wages paid by retailers in
Georgia declined significantly between March and June 2020. With some retail
groups paying higher average wages than others, for some retail groups the
impact of employment declines showed up differently than the employment impact.
Clothing and clothing accessories stores reported the
largest decline in their total wage bill, dropping by more than 37.6 percent in
the second quarter, followed by electronics and appliance stores, which posted
declines of 22.8 percent.
In contrast, food and beverage stores saw their total wage
bill increase by 10 percent, and gasoline stations posted payroll increases of
10.7 percent.
Arts, entertainment, and recreation - Employment
With restrictions on large gatherings of people, along with
individuals’ own reluctance to participate in crowds due to concerns about Covid-19
contagion, entertainment and recreational venues have suffered severe
employment losses.
Companies in the performing arts and spectator sports
business saw the greatest decline in employment, down 37.4 percent (-4,196
employees) in the second quarter followed by accommodation businesses, which
includes hotels, that marked a 32.5 percent (-15,554) drop.
Food services and drinking places, which includes both full-service
and limited-service restaurants as well as bars, saw the largest decline in the
number of employees with the percentage of their workforce dropping by 15.6
percent (-59,789).
Arts, entertainment, and recreation industry groups by change
in employment in Georgia from March to June 2020
·
Performing arts and spectator sports -37.42%
(-4,196)
·
Accommodation -32.48% (-15,554)
·
Museums, historical sites, zoos, and parks
-17.26% (-608)
·
Food services and drinking places -15.6% (-59,789)
·
Amusements, gambling, and recreation -11.9%
(-4,319)
Arts, entertainment, and recreation – Wages
Although food services and drinking places saw the largest decline
in the number of employees, accommodation saw the largest decrease in its total
wage bill, down 48.7%. Food services and drinking places recorded a 31% decline
in payroll, while performing arts and spectator sports-related businesses saw
their payroll drop by 26%.
Other Services – Employment and Wages
One area that is often overlooked are other services such as
personal services and laundry services, membership organizations and
associations, and private households.
Personal and laundry services in this category range from beauty
salons and barber shops to nail salons, funeral homes, laundry services, and
other services such as parking lots. These businesses saw employment drop in
Georgia by 18.6% (-7,334) in the second quarter with payrolls declining by
27.6%.
Membership organizations and associations saw employment decreases
of 12.5% (-3,306) and payroll drop by 13.7%. Private households, which are defined
as including workers employed by individual families, saw a 3.5% decline in
employment with payrolls dropping by 7.5%.
About the numbers
Information on employment and total wages by detailed
industry is provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics Quarterly Census of Employment
and Wages and provides the most detailed information on American industries. Because
of the level of detail and the use of administrative records, the data are
highly accurate but are delayed in publication. Current information is
available only through the end of June 2020. More information on the QCEW is
available at Quarterly Census of Employment
and Wages : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (bls.gov).
