Leisure and hospitality industry employment in metro Houston stood at 362,400 jobs in September 2024, a 1.8% increase over September 2024 and a nearly 8% increase from pre-pandemic sector totals.
The industry accounts for 10.6% of the region’s 3.46 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 26,400 jobs since 2019.
About 5.5% or 20,000 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 but still above 2019 openings.
Among leisure and hospitality subsectors:
- Accommodation and food services employment has increased 8% since 2019
- Arts, entertainment and recreation employment has grown by 6.8%
