The leisure and hospitality sector was the poster child of the employment devastation wreaked by the pandemic, losing half of its workforce (a whopping 8 million jobs) in two months.
The March jobs report this year seemed to indicate that this sector had finally reached its pre-pandemic employment levels.
Not so fast, my friend.
Following revisions to recent months' employment estimates, the key consumer-facing industry is back to being just shy of pre-pandemic form. As of April, there were an estimated 16.897 million leisure and hospitality workers versus 16.899 million in February 2020, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
The leisure and hospitality industry, which was one of the key employment drivers in 2022 and 2023, saw a net gain of only 5,000 jobs last month.
Federal data is frequently subject to change as more detailed and accurate information becomes readily available. The monthly jobs report is no exception: The initial monthly estimates are revised twice more (and subject to later annual benchmarking revisions).
The overall revisions seen in April were comparatively mild to those seen in the past. February's and March's estimated gains were revised down by a combined 22,000 jobs. February's estimates dropped by 34,000 to 236,000 net jobs added, while March's strong job gains of 303,000 were revised up by 12,000 to 315,000.