Travel-Related Unemployment Passes 50 Percent
Since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, more than half of the 15.8 million travel-related jobs in the U.S. have disappeared, according to a new report from the U.S. Travel Association.
The unemployment rate for tourism jobs is 51 percent, more than double the 25 percent rate the country experienced at the height of the Great Depression.
The news comes just as the U.S. readies for Memorial Day Weekend, which is generally seen as the start of the summer travel season. However, this year, Tourism Economics projects that travel spending in the U.S. will tally just one-third of last year's levels—$4.2 billion this year versus $12.3 billion in 2019.
