Washington, D.C. – 2012-12-10 — /travelprnews.com/ — David Huether, senior vice president of economics and research at the U.S. Travel Association, provides analysis on today’s Labor Department report that the unemployment rate was 7.7 percent for November 2012:
“Similar to recent months, today’s Labor Department report indicated a modest increase of 146,000 jobs added to non-farm payroll employment in November. The unemployment rate slightly declined to 7.7 percent.
“Even with the ominous fiscal cliff closing in, the travel industry continues to add jobs, including 2,500 new positions in November alone and 79,000 thus far in 2012.
“The travel industry is a shining star in the employment recovery, creating jobs in 30 of the last 35 months for a total of 304,000 jobs added since December 2009. And since the overall employment recovery began in early 2010, the travel industry has added jobs at a 17 percent faster pace than the rest of the economy and has recovered 61 percent of the jobs lost during the Great Recession, compared to 52 percent in the rest of the economy.
“The travel industry is an indispensable source for quality American jobs, and a new report by Oxford Economics and the U.S. Travel Association analyzed more than three decades of data to find that travel jobs provide skills that translate into rewarding careers with higher pay and greater access to educational opportunities than many other industries.”
U.S. Travel’s first-of-its-kind jobs report, Fast Forward, is available here.
Contact:
Cathy Keefe (202) 408-2183
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.
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