Minnesota’s leisure and hospitality industry has lost nearly half of its jobs in the last year

Earlier today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released data on employment in the leisure and hospitality industry. As expected, employment in the industry has been upended severely by the pandemic and related government-mandated restrictions.

Notably, however, there are significant differences among the states. Some states have been more heavily affected than others. Minnesota is one of those states.

According to the BLS, in the 12-month period between May 2019 and May 2020, Minnesota lost about 50 percent of the jobs available in the leisure and hospitality industry.

Minnesota ranks 14th highest for employment decline among the states. New York had the biggest loss in employment which is not surprising as it was one of the hardest-hit states. Only Oklahoma had a less than 20 percent decrease in leisure and hospitality employment during this period.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

Certainly, lockdowns do not come at a zero cost. This is yet just more evidence of that.