Hospitality Tops Job Growth in February

The leisure and hospitality sector topped job growth in the United States last month, with 83,000 new jobs, according to the recently released February ADP^® National Employment Report, produced by the ADP Research Institute^® in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab.

While job openings decreased from 11.2 million in December to 10.8 million in January, according a report recently released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statics, employment in the private sector, according to the ADP report, increased in February by 242,000 jobs. Annual pay was up 7.2% year over year.

“There is a tradeoff in the labor market right now,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP. “We’re seeing robust hiring, which is good for the economy and workers, but pay growth is still quite elevated. The modest slowdown in pay increases, on its own, is unlikely to drive down inflation rapidly in the near-term.”