Restaurants, hotels and the long climb back, June 2026

economy

employment

Published

August 13, 2026

Leisure and hospitality employment in the Seattle metro, thousands of jobs, NSA, 1990 to June 2026: a steady rise with a summer peak every year, a vertical collapse in spring 2020, and a climb back to about 213k — just under the 216k high of August 2019.

Seattle-metro restaurants, bars, hotels and venues employed 212,600 people in June 2026, up 1.4% from a year earlier. No sector in this data fell as far or as fast in 2020 — more than 40% of these jobs went between February and April of that year — and the record is still the 216,000 of August 2019, with the sector 1.4% below it today. It also has the largest seasonal swing of any sector in the region, which is why the year-over-year comparison is the one to read — this data is not seasonally adjusted.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, State & Area Employment (CES), Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue MSA, leisure & hospitality, not seasonally adjusted, via FRED SEAT653LEIHN. Bench post — generated from the latest observation in the site database.