The latest US jobs numbers for October are out ahead of the weekend.
Around 531,000 new jobs were added across the country as the unemployment rate dropped to 4.6 percent.
Some 164,000 jobs were added in the hospitality industry, a “notable gain” according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But those numbers are still down by about 8.2 percent compared with February 2020.
UCF economist Sean Snaith says he expects more tourism-related jobs to be created in Central Florida with the return of international travelers on Monday.
But he says in order for this job growth to be sustained, employers will need to rethink how they pay their workers.
“I think the recovery will continue in leisure and hospitality as businesses work to make adjustments to wages or other non-wage elements of these jobs to entice people back to the labor force.”
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Snaith says the return of some conventions and other business related travel will also help.
"You know those two pieces of tourism, the international and the business traveler. As they continue to recover, as we’re starting to see and going into 2022 then that will help leisure and hospitality in terms of recovering jobs that were lost.”
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Florida specific jobs data will be released next week.
