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Sullivan County’s hospitality and leisure industry has plummeted by about 1,000 jobs in the past four years.
Sullivan County Commissioner of Community Resources Laura Quigley said that the hospitality industry faced the massive labor decline from May 2022 to May 2026.
Quigley noted a mix of low seasonal hiring, consumer caution, an aging workforce, and immigration restrictions likely contributed to the dip.
“Given the fact that all prices have gone up, people may be going out eating but it might not be as often. People [are] rethinking their vacation trips,” Quigley told Radio Catskill. “I know that there was an expectation that just on a larger stage that the FIFA World Cup would have a major increase and positive impact on leisure and hospitality, and it really hasn’t in terms of the job growth.”
The decline comes amidst national trends that show a decline of 61,000 leisure and hospitality jobs across the country in June, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The labor report cites “weaker than usual seasonal hiring” for June.
From 2021 to 2022, employment popped back up in Sullivan County following the onset of the COVID pandemic in 2020. But Quigley said during a July 9 Sullivan County legislative meeting that from 2022 to 2026, the county’s labor workforce only grew 3 percent, or about 1,200 jobs.
While leisure and hospitality jobs have plummeted in Sullivan County, other industries aren’t facing the same decline. Jobs in the private educational and health services sector have jumped by 2,800 jobs from 2022 to 2026, says Quigley.
Still, she says that diversifying the workforce economy is critical.
“You also don’t want all your eggs in one basket, right? You don’t want to be a one-industry county. We were that way many years ago and in the long run did not serve us well,” said Quigley.
Image: A help-wanted sign hangs in the front window of the Bar Harbor Tea Room, Saturday, June 11, 2022, in Bar Harbor, Maine. America’s employers shrugged off high inflation and weakening growth to add 372,000 jobs in June, a surprisingly strong gain that will likely spur the Federal Reserve to keep sharply raising interest rates to try to cool the economy and slow price increases. The unemployment rate remained at 3.6% for a fourth straight month, the government said Friday, July 8. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)