Restaurants and bars shed a lot of jobs in June
After ramping up hiring for the summer, food services and drinking places pulled back last month, shedding nearly 33,000 jobs.
July 2, 2026
About that improving restaurant job market: Never mind.
Restaurants and bars all but wiped out their pre-summer job creation last month, shedding nearly 33,000 jobs in June, according to new federal data released on Thursday.
What’s more, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics revised downward May’s seemingly impressive job growth by 10,300 jobs.
As such, hiring at food services and drinking places so far this year has returned to the largely non-existent rate of growth of the past two months.
And June’s restaurant cuts fell in line with broad-based job cuts throughout the leisure and hospitality space, as hotels and performing arts centers all cut jobs. Hotels alone cut 21,700 jobs in June, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The weakness in the leisure and hospitality sector largely held back the overall job market. The economy added just 57,000 jobs last month. The unemployment rate declined slightly to 4.2%, due mostly to people leaving the workforce.
The data suggests that the industry has largely stagnated at a time when traffic to restaurants has been in decline.
Assuming the rate of job growth at restaurants and bars continues at this pace, it would be the third straight year of total job growth in the industry at less than 1%. In the four years before the pandemic, restaurants added an average of 1.8% new positions every year.
By contrast, the industry has added 0.62% new jobs annually for the past four years, including so far in 2026.
Multiple factors could be at play in the slowing job growth. Weakening sales and traffic are likely keeping operators from adding more workers, both to preserve profits and because fewer customers typically requires fewer workers.
Rising wage rates are also likely playing a role, as operators opt to hire fewer people to cover for the higher pay.
And new technology and ordering channels, such as third-party delivery, mobile apps, and kiosks, have likely provided an incentive for operators to hold off on adding new workers.
Still, the stagnant market in the leisure sector overall comes despite a number of events this year that should give companies reason to add workers, such as the FIFA World Cup in many markets and America’s 250th anniversary. But they apparently cannot offset a largely stagnant restaurant market.
The job market in 2026 can still pick up. At this time in 2025, for instance, restaurants shed 17,500 jobs. The industry finished the year with more than 100,000 new positions.
About the Author
Jonathan Maze
Editor in Chief, Restaurant Business
Restaurant Business Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Maze is a longtime industry journalist who writes about restaurant finance, mergers and acquisitions and the economy, with a particular focus on quick-service restaurants. He writes daily about the factors influencing the operating environment, including labor and food costs and various industry trends such as technology and delivery.
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