In December U.S. Employment in Leisure and Hospitality Hanged Little (+40,000)

U.S. Unemployment Rate Unchanged at 3.7%

Leisure and Hospitality Sector

Employment in leisure and hospitality changed little in December (+40,000). The industry added an average of 39,000 jobs per month in 2023, less than half the average gain of 88,000 jobs per month in 2022. Employment in the industry is below its pre-pandemic February 2020 level by 163,000, or 1.0 percent.

Household Survey Data

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 216,000 in December, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.7 percent. Employment continued to trend up in government, health care, social assistance, and construction, while transportation and warehousing lost jobs.

The unemployment rate held at 3.7 percent in December, and the number of unemployed persons was essentially unchanged at 6.3 million. These measures are higher than a year earlier, when the jobless rate was 3.5 percent and the number of unemployed persons was 5.7 million.

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (3.5 percent), adult women (3.3 percent), teenagers (11.9 percent), Whites (3.5 percent), Blacks (5.2 percent), Asians (3.1 percent), and Hispanics (5.0 percent) showed little change in December.

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more), at 1.2 million,was little changed in December and over the year. The long-term unemployed accounted for 19.7 percent of all unemployed persons in December.

The labor force participation rate, at 62.5 percent, and the employment-population ratio,at 60.1 percent, both decreased by 0.3 percentage point in December. These measures showed little or no change over the year.

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons, at 4.2 million, changed little in December but was up by 333,000 over the year. These individuals, who would have preferred full-time employment, were working part time because their hours had been reduced or they were unable to find full-time jobs.

The number of persons not in the labor force who currently want a job edged up to 5.7million in December and was up by 514,000 over the year. These individuals were notcounted as unemployed because they were not actively looking for work during the 4 weeks preceding the survey or were unavailable to take a job.

Among those not in the labor force who wanted a job, the number of persons marginally attached to the labor force changed little at 1.6 million in December but was up by 306,000 over the year. These individuals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months but had not looked for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. The number of discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached who believed that no jobs were available for them, at 346,000, was little changed in December and over the year.