Leisure and hospitality industry employment in metro Houston stood at 366,800 jobs in August 2024, a 1.4% increase over August 2023 and a nearly 8% increase from five years ago.
The industry accounts for 10.6% of the region’s 3.44 million nonfarm jobs. Total nonfarm employment is up 2% over the same period a year ago.
Leisure and hospitality—which includes accommodation and food services as well as arts, entertainment, and recreation—has increased by about 27,000 jobs since 2019.
About 4.9% of hospitality jobs in the region are currently open, just a bit higher than the 4.4% of all nonfarm jobs currently open in the market. That’s down from a peak of nearly 10% in December 2022.
Among leisure and hospitality subsectors:
- Accommodation and food services employment has increased 8.1% since 2019
- Arts, entertainment and recreation employment has grown by 6.7% over the last five years.
Written by A.J. Mistretta
