Restaurants’ labor market tightening, NRA finds

Restaurants and lodging properties had nearly 600,000 jobs unfilled at the height of the summer season, indicating a widening gap between the demand and supply of hospitality workers, according to the National Restaurant Association.

“While it doesn’t necessarily indicate that the industry is careening toward a full-blown labor shortage, the underlying fundamentals suggest that the labor market is likely tightening,” NRA economist Bruce Grindy said on his blog, Economist’s Notebook.

The association found that restaurants and lodging properties had 583,000 open jobs on the last day of July, an increase of 100,000 from the same day of 2013.

Those positions remained open despite the hiring of more than 706,000 people during July.  Hiring had topped the 700,000-person threshold for May and June as well, according to Grindy.

Still, he noted, restaurateurs remain more concerned about food costs than the availability and price of labor. In an August survey conducted for the NRA, 9 percent said the recruitment and retention of employees was their top concern, compared with 29 percent who cited food costs. 

Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.

Multimedia

Exclusive Content

Financing

Innovation is great, until it isn't

The Bottom Line: Starbucks pushed through products recently while skipping its traditional testing processes, even as the coffee shop giant was working to improve operations. Those ideas are contradictory.

Financing

Fast-food chains get some big wins, despite a tough consumer environment

The Bottom Line: Wendy’s Krabby Patty Kollab generated strong sales for the chain. McDonald’s got traction with its Chicken Big Mac. Both proved that good marketing can win, even these days.

Financing

Corporate greed cooked BurgerFi, franchisees say

The once-promising better-burger chain has a new owner out of bankruptcy, but franchisees wonder whether damage done under prior leaders leaves any hope for a new beginning.

Trending

More from our partners