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Displaced workers in leisure and hospitality rose sharply from 2019 to 2021
September 27, 2022
From January 2019 through December 2021, 3.6 million workers were displaced from jobs they had held for at least 3 years. This was up by 924,000 workers from the prior survey covering January 2017 to December 2019. In January 2022, 65 percent of workers displaced from 2019 to 2021 were reemployed, down from 70 percent in January 2020.
From 2019 to 2021, 574,000 long-tenured workers in leisure and hospitality were displaced from their jobs, up 434,000 from the 2017–19 period. This increase accounted for nearly half of the overall increase in displaced workers over the period. The leisure and hospitality industry accounted for 16 percent of the total number of long-tenured displaced workers, up from 5 percent for the 2017–19 period. This sharp increase reflects the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Percent distribution of long-tenured displaced workers by industry of lost job, January, 2004–2022
Industry
Jan 2004
Jan 2006
Jan 2008
Jan 2010
Jan 2012
Jan 2014
Jan 2016
Jan 2018
Jan 2020
Jan 2022
Total displaced workers, all industries
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
Wholesale trade
4.6
3.8
3.7
4.2
3.2
3.4
3.7
4.1
3.6
2.0
Government wage and salary workers
4.5
5.3
3.0
3.8
5.6
6.0
5.2
4.0
5.2
2.9
Information
5.8
4.3
4.9
2.8
3.2
3.2
5.0
3.3
4.7
3.3
Transportation and utilities
4.4
5.0
4.3
4.5
3.9
3.4
3.5
3.0
3.2
4.8
Other services
2.6
2.8
4.9
3.3
3.3
3.4
3.4
3.6
3.2
5.2
Construction
5.9
7.1
7.8
13.2
11.3
9.2
6.8
5.5
7.1
5.9
Financial activities
6.7
9.6
10.6
8.7
7.8
6.7
8.7
6.9
9.6
7.0
Retail trade
9.8
9.5
11.3
10.1
10.8
10.4
11.3
12.0
12.7
9.9
Education and health services
6.5
6.9
8.4
7.8
9.9
11.2
12.0
12.3
10.4
12.0
Manufacturing
31.8
28.4
24.1
22.6
19.3
17.8
17.3
16.1
17.3
12.9
Professional and business services
11.2
10.6
8.5
11.2
12.3
13.5
12.0
14.7
14.7
14.1
Leisure and hospitality
4.1
4.6
6.9
4.7
6.2
7.1
6.5
7.8
5.2
16.0
Note: Totals for percent distributions do not sum to 100.0 percent due to insufficient previous industry data for some displaced workers.
For the 2019–21 period, workers in professional and business services accounted for 506,000, or 14 percent, of all long-tenured displacements, in line with the proportion for prior survey periods. In manufacturing, long-tenured displacements numbered 465,000 for the 2019–21 period, essentially unchanged from 2017–19. Manufacturing accounted for 13 percent of all long-tenured displacements, down from 17 percent for the prior survey.
In January 2022, the reemployment rates for the other services industry (50 percent), retail trade (61 percent), and leisure and hospitality (64 percent) declined significantly from January 2020. These reemployment rates reflect the slower recovery from the pandemic in these industries. The rates for workers displaced from the other major industry groups changed little from the prior survey. (Workers were not necessarily reemployed in the same industries from which they were displaced.)
Reemployment rates for long-tenured displaced workers age 20 years and over, by industry, 2018, 2020, and 2022
Industry
2018
2020
2022
Total, all industries
66.4%
70.1%
65.2%
Other services
76.0
72.6
50.1
Retail trade
67.9
78.3
60.9
Professional and business services
67.3
71.4
62.8
Leisure and hospitality
65.9
78.3
64.2
Manufacturing
64.7
64.4
64.3
Information
47.3
80.2
65.4
Construction
60.9
63.6
65.7
Financial activities
68.1
67.0
70.2
Government wage and salary workers
66.7
71.9
70.8
Education and health services
77.5
68.2
71.6
Transportation and utilities
64.7
72.5
73.4
These data are from the Current Population Survey. For more information, see "Worker Displacement: 2019–2021." Displaced workers are wage and salary workers age 20 years or older who lost or left jobs because their plant or company closed or moved, there was insufficient work for them to do, or their position or shift was abolished.
United States Department of Labor
