Leisure and hospitality industry employment in metro Houston stood at 362,600 jobs in October 2024, a 1.5% increase over October 2023 and an 8.6% increase from pre-pandemic sector totals.

The industry accounts for 10.4% of the region’s 3.47 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 28,600 jobs since 2019.

About 4.6% or 16,000 of the total jobs in the sector locally are currently open, roughly the same percentage as all nonfarm job openings in the region. That’s down from a peak of nearly 10% in December 2022 and on par with 2019 openings.

Among leisure and hospitality subsectors:

• Accommodation and food services employment has increased 8.2% since 2019
• Arts, entertainment and recreation employment has grown by 11%

In its year-end jobs forecast, the Greater Houston Partnership said it expects to see growth across multiple industry sectors, including leisure and hospitality. The economic development group's forecast calls for 5,200 new jobs in restaurants and bars, 600 new hotel jobs and another 1,800 in the arts, entertainment and recreation category of the industry.

Written by A.J. Mistretta