The hospitality sector added 88,000 jobs in November, but it's still below pre-pandemic levels

Yahoo Finance Live anchors discuss the job gains in the leisure and hospitality sector and where those industries stand in their labor market recovery from the pandemic.

Video transcript

MARTY WALSH: The one number that kind of jumped out at me was the increase in hospitality and retail that-- and tourism that hasn't been there. We gained about, I think, 80-- almost 90,000 jobs this month.

And I know it's only a one-month indicator. It's only a one-month number. But that's the sector that hasn't come back fully. There's still a lot of people that were pre-pandemic work in that sector that haven't come back to work. And when I saw that number today, I was starting to think, are people starting to realize, starting to get back into the sectors that they were in previously to the pandemic?

BRAD SMITH: That was Labor Secretary here in the US, Marty Walsh, on the notable job growth in the leisure and hospitality industry, as he weighs the idea of people previously employed in that segment and that sector before the pandemic that are returning to work.

And it's noteworthy because this was the most impacted sector in leisure and hospitality. Saw the biggest declines here, and as it was pointed out within this report, leisure and hospitality has added an average of 82,000 jobs per month thus far this year. And that's less than half the average gain of 196,000 jobs per month in 2021. So that really shows you how far back this industry has had to climb as well.

JULIE HYMAN: Yeah, and it's still not back, by the way, because even with the gain of 88,000 jobs in November in leisure and hospitality, it has still not reached its pre-pandemic high of nearly 17 million workers within that industry. So it's still something to keep an eye on.