David Huether, senior vice president of economics and research at the U.S. Travel Association, provides analysis on Labor Department report on July 2011 employment numbers:
“The Labor Department reports the economy added a modest 117,000 jobs last month, while the unemployment rate remained essentially unchanged at 9.1 percent. Employment gains were rather lackluster across most industries. Posting a slowdown from the 30,000 jobs created in June, the travel industry added 9,200 jobs in July. However, through the first seven months of 2011, travel industry employment has expanded by 106,000 to a level of 7.5 million workers, accounting for 11.4 percent of the total jobs created so far this year.
“Still, the fact that close to 14 million Americans remain unemployed shows that the recovery needs to pick up steam. As we have already seen this year, the travel industry is one of the most efficient job engines in the U.S. economy, creating twice as many jobs as the rest of the private sector for any given increase in output. And a healthy travel industry is poised to help the very people who are currently out of work.
“Increasing the amount of international travelers to the U.S. through an improved U.S. visa system will create jobs. Travelers from China, India and Brazil collectively spent close to $15 billion in the U.S. in 2010, which supported 105,800 U.S. jobs. Barriers, like visa delays, that discourage travel to the U.S. must be removed so we can enjoy the economic impact of these travelers.”
The U.S. Travel Association is the national, non-profit organization representing all components of the travel industry that generates $1.8 trillion in economic output and supports 14.1 million jobs. U.S. Travel's mission is to increase travel to and within the United States.
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