Food Services and Drinking Places: NAICS 722

About the Food Services and Drinking Places subsector

The food services and drinking places subsector is part of the accommodation and food services sector.

Industries in the Food Services and Drinking Places subsector prepare meals, snacks, and beverages to customer order for immediate on-premises and off-premises consumption. There is a wide range of establishments in these industries. Some provide food and drink only; while others provide various combinations of seating space, waiter/waitress services and incidental amenities, such as limited entertainment. The industries in the subsector are grouped based on the type and level of services provided. The industry groups are full-service restaurants; limited-service eating places; special food services, such as food service contractors, caterers, and mobile food services; and drinking places.

North American Industry Classification System

The food services and drinking places subsector consists of these industry groups:

  • Full-Service Restaurants: NAICS 7221
  • Limited-Service Eating Places: NAICS 7222
  • Special Food Services: NAICS 7223
  • Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages): NAICS 7224

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment and unemployment in food services and drinking places. While most data are obtained from employer or establishment surveys, information on industry unemployment comes from a national survey of households. The following tables present an overview of the industry including the number of jobs, the unemployment rate of those previously employed in the industry, union membership and representation, mass layoffs, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment, Unemployment, and Layoffs

Data series Back
data
Jul.
2009
Aug.
2009
Sep.
2009
Oct.
2009

Employment (in thousands)

 

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

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9,563.3 9,555.1 (P) 9,546.5 (P) 9,540.1

Employment, nonsupervisory workers

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8,770.8 8,756.9 (P) 8,599.7  

Unemployment

 

Unemployment rate

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11.7% 12.5% 11.6% 12.0%

Layoffs

 

Mass layoff events

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75 46 31 78

Initial claimants for unemployment benefits

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5,532 3,352 2,244 7,209

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey, Mass Layoff Statistics)

Union Membership and Representation

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data
2005 2006 2007 2008

Union membership and representation

 

Members of unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

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1.3% 1.1% 0.9% 1.5%

Represented by unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

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1.5% 1.4% 1.2% 1.8%

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Extended Mass Layoffs

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data
4th quarter
2008
1st quarter
2009
2nd quarter
2009
3rd quarter
2009

Extended mass layoff events

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65 51 (P) 163 (P) 44

Separations

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15,885 10,818 (P) 54,259 (P) 10,190

Initial claimants

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13,100 10,845 (P) 50,049 (P) 6,009

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Mass Layoff Statistics)

Employment by Occupation

Data series Employment,
2008

Combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food

2,208,340

Cooks, fast food

530,100

Cooks, restaurant

788,800

First-line supervisors/managers of food preparation and serving workers

611,810

Waiters and waitresses

2,048,200

(Source: Occupational Employment Statistics)

Projections

For projected (future) employment estimates, see the National Employment Matrix, which includes employment estimates by industry and occupation for food services and drinking places.

(Source: Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections)

Earnings and Hours

This section presents data on employee earnings and weekly hours. The latest industry averages of hourly earnings and weekly hours for production or nonsupervisory employees, as well as weekly earnings by union membership status, are shown. In addition, recent hourly and annual earnings are shown for occupations commonly found in food services and drinking places.

Earnings and Hours of Production Workers

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data
Jun.
2009
Jul.
2009
Aug.
2009
Sep.
2009

Average hourly earnings

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$9.76 $9.81 $9.92 (P) $9.93

Average weekly hours

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24.2 24.3 24.7 (P) 23.7

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Union Membership and Representation

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data
Median weekly earnings
2005 2006 2007 2008

Union membership and representation

 

Full-time workers

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$372 $382 $399 $417

Members of unions

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$400 $480 $476 $497

Represented by unions

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$406 $481 $490 $491

Nonunion

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$372 $381 $398 $416

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series Wages, 2008
Hourly Annual
Median Mean Median Mean

Combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food

$7.75 $8.07 $16,120 $16,780

Cooks, fast food

$8.10 $8.43 $16,850 $17,530

Cooks, restaurant

$10.40 $10.73 $21,620 $22,320

First-line supervisors/managers of food preparation and serving workers

$13.46 $14.39 $28,000 $29,930

Waiters and waitresses

$7.99 $9.26 $16,610 $19,270

(Source: Occupational Employment Statistics)

Work-related Fatalities, Injuries, and Illnesses

This section presents data for the industry on the number of workplace fatalities and the rates of workplace injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers in food services and drinking places. An injury or illness is considered to be work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition.

Data series 2005 2006 2007 2008

Fatalities

 

Number of fatalities

109 146 131 (P) 120

Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers

 

Total recordable cases

4.1 4.2 4.1 3.7

Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer

1.3 1.4 1.3 1.2

Cases involving days away from work

0.9 1.0 0.9 0.8

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

0.4 0.4 0.3 0.4

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments in food services and drinking places. Also included in this section is information on productivity, presented as the rate of change in output per hour of workers in the industry.

Establishments

Data series Back
data
2nd quarter
2008
3rd quarter
2008
4th quarter
2008
1st quarter
2009

Number of establishments

 

Private industry

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544,597 547,045 549,487 (P) 548,590

Local government

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558 562 560 (P) 581

State government

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4 4 4 (P) 3

Federal government

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138 137 136 (P) 136

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Productivity

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data
2005 2006 2007 2008

Labor productivity index, output per hour

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107.857 109.069 108.652 107.875

Percent change from previous year

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0.8 1.1 -0.4 -0.7

Labor index, total labor hours

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114.670 117.047 119.014 118.726

Percent change from previous year

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2.0 2.1 1.7 -0.2

Output index

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123.679 127.662 129.311 128.076

Percent change from previous year

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2.8 3.2 1.3 -1.0

Unit labor costs index

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121.398 126.129 132.563 137.438

Percent change from previous year

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1.8 3.9 5.1 3.7

(Source: Productivity and Costs)

Other BLS Resources

Career Guide to Industries

See food services and drinking places in the Career Guide to Industries.

 

Data extracted on: November 20, 2009