David Huether, senior vice president of economics and research at the U.S. Travel Association, provides analysis on today's August 2012 Labor Department report:
"The U.S. travel industry continues to spur our nation's economic recovery by putting Americans back to work, adding 7,000 new jobs in August. Not only did these jobs contribute to lowering the unemployment rate to 8.1 percent, but this also marks the ninth consecutive month of positive growth in travel employment. Total travel industry employment now stands at 7.6 million, the highest level since November 2008.
"The travel industry has created jobs nearly 30 percent faster than the rest of the economy over the past 30 months and has made up 59 percent of the jobs that were lost during the great recession. By comparison, the rest of the economy has only recovered 45 percent of the jobs lost between December 2007 and February 2010. Since the employment recovery began in March of 2010, the travel industry has added 291,000 jobs and accounted for 8 percent of the total jobs created to-date.
"The travel industry is a unique job engine because it is more labor-intensive, export-oriented and outsource-resistant than the rest of the U.S. economy. These factors have enabled the travel industry to lead the employment recovery.
"The U.S. Travel Association's recent Travel Means Jobs report shows the vital role that the travel industry plays in providing employment opportunities for Americans. And with additional responsible policies put in place to encourage more travel to and within the United States, the travel industry can continue to be a powerful force to put Americans back to work."
The U.S. Travel Association is the national, non-profit organization representing all components of the travel industry that generates $1.9 trillion in economic output and supports 14.4 million jobs. U.S. Travel's mission is to increase travel to and within the United States.
Visit www.ustravel.org.
