Restrictions wipe out 10 years of job growth
BY KEITH M. PHANEUF CTMIRROR.ORG
July 24, 2021
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Connecticut has known for months the coronavirus hit its hospitality industry harder than those in most other states.
Now it’s learned things are worse than many thought.
According to revised projections from the American Hotel & Lodging Association, Connecticut will have regained by year’s end slightly less than 72% of the 26,225 direct hotel industry jobs it lost during the pandemic.
Those 7,400 unfilled jobs is significantly worse than the 5,900-position-gap the AHLA forecast for Connecticut back in May.
“The pandemic has been devastating to the hospitality industry workforce, wiping out 10 years of hotel job growth,” the association wrote, adding that the hotels and other lodgings are expected to end 2021 down 500,000 jobs compared with 2019 employment levels.