Accommodation and Food Services: NAICS 72

About the Accommodation and Food Services sector

The accommodation and food services sector is part of the leisure and hospitality supersector.

The accommodation and food services sector consists of these subsectors:

• Accommodation: NAICS 721
• Food Services and Drinking Places: NAICS 722

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment and unemployment in accommodation and food services. 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, job openings and labor turnover, union membership and representation, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment, Unemployment, and Openings, Hires, and Separations

Data series	Back data	May 2023	Jun. 2023	Jul. 2023	Aug. 2023
Employment (in thousands)
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)		14,113.2	14,128.4	(p)14,157.4	(p)14,180.9
Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees		12,486.6	12,735.5	(p)12,857.4
Unemployment
Unemployment rate		5.3%	5.1%	6.2%	6.1%
Job openings, hires, and separations (in thousands)
Job openings		1,203	1,017	(p)1,180
Hires		1,067	1,063	(p)891
Separations		900	927	(p)876
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey)

Union Membership and Representation

Data series	Back data	2019	2020	2021	2022
Union membership and representation
Members of unions (percent of wage and salary workers)		2.1%	1.6%	1.7%	2.0%
Represented by unions (percent of wage and salary workers)		2.6%	2.1%	2.1%	2.4%

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Employment by Occupation

Data series	Employment, 2022
Combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food	2,898,550
Cooks, fast food	708,250
Cooks, restaurant	1,238,040
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks	229,240
Waiters and waitresses	1,967,060

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)

Projections

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

(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, 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 accommodation and food services. This section also contains information on the average cost of benefits paid by employers, as well as recent rates of change in wages and total compensation.

Earnings and Hours of All Employees

Data series	Back data	Apr. 2023	May 2023	Jun. 2023	Jul. 2023
Average hourly earnings		$20.14	$20.27	$20.17	(p)$20.21
Average weekly hours		25.9	25.8	26.0	(p)26.3
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees

Data series	Back data	Apr. 2023	May 2023	Jun. 2023	Jul. 2023
Average hourly earnings		$18.04	$18.29	$18.23	(p)$18.31
Average weekly hours		24.7	24.7	24.9	(p)25.2
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series	Wages, 2022
	Hourly		Annual
	Median	Mean	Median	Mean
Combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food	13.32	13.31	27,700	27,680
Cooks, fast food	13.28	13.41	27,620	27,880
Cooks, restaurant	16.33	16.26	33,970	33,820
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks	13.86	14.50	28,840	30,150
Waiters and waitresses	14.00	15.89	29,120	33,060

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)

Employee Benefits

This section presents data on the incidence (the percentage of workers with access to and participation in employer-provided benefit plans) and provisions of selected employee benefits from the National Compensation Survey. More Benefits estimates are also accessible from the Benefits database, the archived NCS publications page, and the complete Employee Benefits Excel dataset (XLSX).

Data series	Access		Participation
	Back data	2023	Back data	2023
Private industry
Retirement benefit plans		33		15
Defined benefit plans		1		1
Defined contribution plans		32		14

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Data series	After 1 year of service		After 20 years of service
	Back data	2023	Back data	2023
Mean number of vacation days for private industry workers without consolidated leave plans		5		12

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Data series	Back data	2023
Percent of private industry workers with access to employer-sponsored benefits
Health care		32
Paid vacation		40
Paid sick leave		48

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Employer Compensation Costs

Data series	Back data	3rd quarter 2022	4th quarter 2022	1st quarter 2023	2nd quarter 2023
Private industry
12-month percent change
Total compensation		7.4%	6.4%	5.9%	5.5%
Wages and salaries		7.7%	6.5%	6.0%	5.5%
3-month percent change
Total compensation		1.6%	0.6%	1.9%	1.3%
Wages and salaries		1.7%	0.6%	1.8%	1.3%

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

Data series	Private industry
	Compensation component ($ per hour worked)		Percent of total compensation
	Back data	2nd quarter 2023	Back data	2nd quarter 2023
Total compensation		17.62		100.0
Wages and salaries		14.48		82.2
Total benefits		3.14		17.8
Insurance		0.59		3.3
Retirement		0.15		0.8
Paid leave		0.43		2.4

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

Union Membership and Representation

Data series	Back data	Median weekly earnings
		2019	2020	2021	2022
Union membership and representation
Full-time workers		$574	$592	$618	$678
Members of unions		$656	$723	$725	$781
Represented by unions		$615	$723	$735	$803
Nonunion		$571	$589	$615	$675

(Source: Current Population Survey)

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 accommodation and food services. 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	2018	2019	2020	2021
Fatalities
Number of fatalities	176	188	160	182
Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

Data series	2021
Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers
Total recordable cases	2.7
Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer	1.3
Cases involving days away from work	0.9
Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction	0.4
Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

(Source: Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments in accommodation and food services.

Establishments

Data series	Back data	2nd quarter 2022	3rd quarter 2022	4th quarter 2022	1st quarter 2023
Number of establishments
Private industry		758,505	765,820	770,399	(p)773,141
Local government		703	703	703	(p)703
State government		14	13	14	(p)14
Federal government		387	386	393	(p)397
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

 

Data extracted on: September 27, 2023