Restaurant Jobs: Is The Industry Recovering In Washington?

WASHINGTON — Restaurant workers have been among the most at risk of unemployment since the coronavirus pandemic began almost 11 months ago.

Washington is one of the 46 states that have seen overall losses in restaurant industry employment from the beginning of the pandemic to the end of 2020. Only Indiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma ended 2020 with more people employed in the industry than in February of that year. Idaho saw no change.

Unsurprisingly, that means restaurant jobs are trending poorly overall.

A net 19,400 restaurant industry jobs were lost in January, according to early data from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics that accounts for seasonally adjusted totals. The January monthly loss came after more than 400,000 jobs were lost in December, according to a report from Restaurant.org.

In Washington, there were 252,300 restaurant industry jobs in February 2020, the final full month before the pandemic. From there, 239,100 jobs remained in March, then were cut almost in half to 123,900 in April.

From April, restaurant jobs eventually crawled back, making slow but steady growth through September, when the state had 207,700 restaurant jobs. Unfortunately for restaurant workers, they've slouched in the month since, with just 184,900 jobs reported at the end of the year. That slouch is likely tied to the fall COVID-19 surge, which caused state leaders to ban indoor dining a second time.

There is hope, however, that the situation will improve in the new year. By the end of the weekend, 92% of Washington will be allowed to reopen restaurants to indoor dining, albeit in a restricted capacity.

That's a good sign, but may be cold comfort to the thousands of workers who have struggled to make ends meet over the last year.

Jasmine Slater is among the 100,000 or so Florida residents to have been laid off in the restaurant industry since the start of the pandemic. Her job as a waitress at a family steakhouse in Orlando was bringing in about $600 a week, enough to pay her bills and support two children and herself, the Washington Post reported.

She has had to deplete her savings account and survive on $130 a week unemployment benefits since she was laid off in March.

“It’s been 10 months, but I’m still shocked, disheartened, devastated,” Slater told The Post. “I’ve gone through my savings, I’ve gone through my resources… The bills are piling up and my kids are looking to me for answers I can’t provide.”

The data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics is based on the 12th day of every month, so the March numbers are more in line with pre-pandemic totals.

Nationally, the industry began gradually improving every month after the initial sharp decrease in jobs seen after the start of the pandemic last March and April — however, the downward national trend has now gone on for three months, Restaurant.org reported.

Over the past three months, the number of jobs lost in the industry represents more than 10 percent of the ones that were recovered during the six-month period following the initial coronavirus lockdowns, according to the report.