Leisure and hospitality added 144,000 jobs in the fourth quarter of 2024, the strongest quarterly gain in the sector since early 2022. The gains were broad-based across food services, accommodation, and arts and recreation, and reflected a strong holiday travel and dining season that exceeded most forecasters' expectations.
Food services and drinking places led with 88,000 jobs added across the quarter. Full-service restaurants added 41,000, limited-service restaurants added 31,000, and special food services (a category that captures catering and food trucks) added 16,000. Restaurant sales, measured in real terms, were 4.2% higher than the prior year — the strongest growth since the immediate post-pandemic reopening.
Accommodation added 28,000 jobs, the strongest quarterly gain since 2021. Hotel occupancy averaged 65% in Q4 — still a touch below the 67% pre-pandemic norm, but rising. Average daily rates were up 6% year over year, supporting healthy revenue per available room and giving operators capacity to pay competitive wages.
Arts, entertainment, and recreation added 28,000 jobs, with gains concentrated in performing arts and spectator sports. Concert and live event attendance had a banner year, with several high-profile tours posting record per-show revenues. Movie theater employment, which had been a persistent laggard, grew modestly as the slate of major releases improved.
Wage growth in leisure and hospitality remained strong — 5.0% year over year, the highest of any major sector. Wages for tipped workers grew even faster, with restaurant operators in many markets reporting that the combined hourly wage plus tips for experienced servers had risen above $30 — a level that has begun to attract workers back from other sectors.
Total nonfarm payrolls grew by an average of 195,000 per month in Q4, modestly below the 220,000 pace of Q3 but still well above the breakeven rate. Healthcare added 175,000, government added 75,000, and construction added 35,000. Manufacturing shed 12,000, and retail trade was flat despite the strong holiday season — reflecting both warehouse-club gains and department-store losses, plus heavier reliance on temporary and gig labor.
Wages overall grew 4.0% year over year by quarter-end. The unemployment rate held at 4.1% throughout the quarter, with prime-age employment-population ratios near cycle highs.
The Q4 leisure and hospitality strength was an important data point in the broader story of the post-pandemic services rebound. By the end of 2024, sector employment was within 0.5% of the pre-pandemic peak — a recovery that had at one point seemed uncertain. The continued strength of services consumption, even with goods spending softening, has remained a reliable source of job creation through 2025 and into 2026.