Travel Adds More Jobs in the U.S. as Travel Exports Cool

The U.S. economy added 175,000 jobs in February, more than most economists predicted, even as unemployment rose slightly to 6.7 percent from 6.6 percent the previous month. For the travel industry, however, it was more good news as the sector added 10,500 jobs in February, according to the U.S. Labor Department’s report.

David Huether, senior vice president of research and economics at the U.S. Travel Association, said those numbers continue a strong and steady growth trend despite an unusually harsh winter.

“On the employment side, the travel industry continues to lead the way in U.S. economic growth and recovery, now employing 62,000 more workers than the pre-recession employment peak set in February 2008,” Huether said. “While travel industry employment is now more than fully recovered—13 percent higher since the start of the Great Recession in early 2010—the rest of the economy is only 92 percent recovered. Travel has added jobs at an 18 percent faster rate than the rest of the economy since early 2010, creating 531,000 jobs.”

On the other hand, it wasn’t all good news on the travel front. While U.S. exports overall rebounded in January, after a poor performance in December, the U.S. Commerce Department reported that travel exports, representing inbound international travel to the U.S., actually dropped by $0.2 billion to $15.8 billion in January.

"While some of the softening in travel trade was a natural correction following very strong growth at the end of last year, the impact of weather-related delays and cancellations on international travel likely curtailed travel spending in the U.S. by international visitors,” said Huether.

In part, Huether blamed U.S. airport infrastructure for the decline. “We can't eliminate all the effects of weather on our economy,” he said, “but modernizing our infrastructure to reduce flight delays and cancellations could mitigate the harm inclement weather can inflict upon both domestic and international travel.”

At the same time, Huether pointed out that over the past 12 months, travel exports have actually increased 6.8 percent, or 2.5 times faster than other U.S. exports of goods and services.

"One of the main reasons our sector has been outperforming the rest of the economy in job growth is that travel exports, which support more than a million jobs, have been growing much faster than other U.S. exports of goods and services over the past 12 months,” Huether said.

Source: Travel Pulse, http://www.travelpulse.com/news/business-travel/travel-adds-more-jobs-in-the-us-as-travel-exports-cool.html