U.S. Travel Association Executive Vice President of Public Affairs and Policy Tori Emerson Barnes issued the following statement on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ December employment report, which showed that the Leisure & Hospitality (L&H) sector added 53,000 jobs while the overall economy added just 199,000:

“The latest jobs report points to an uneven recovery for the Leisure & Hospitality sector, which had its second-worst performance since January 2021. The small gains made are not enough to propel the sector toward a larger recovery, as more than 7% of all L&H jobs remain lost compared to just 2% for the rest of the U.S. economy.

“As the spread of the omicron variant continues to impact travel, there remains a pressing need for Congress to provide additional federal relief and stabilizing policies that will enable the return of business travel, professional meetings and events, and international inbound travel.”

Please click here to see U.S. Travel’s top federal relief priorities, which include passing the Restoring Brand USA Act (S. 2424 / H.R. 4594) and providing targeted tax stimulus to restore spending on business travel, live entertainment and in-person events.