David Huether, senior vice president for research and economics at the U.S. Travel Association, comments on Friday’s Labor Department employment report and the U.S. Department of Commerce export report from Thursday:
“Increasing jobs for a seventh consvecutive month, the travel industry expanded payrolls by 13,500 in January to a record 8.1 million direct jobs. The employment gain generated last month was slightly larger than the average monthly rise in 2014, a good indication that the industry is starting off the year on solid footing.
“Since the employment recovery began, the travel industry has added 861,000 jobs and has outpaced job growth in the rest of the economy by 36 percent.
“One bright spot in Thursday’s otherwise gloomy Commerce Department report is that while other exports of goods and services fell for a second consecutive month in December, travel exports rebounded in December and increased by $400 million, the eighth increase in the past 12 months and the biggest rise since August.
“Despite concerns of the rising dollar affecting international visitation to the U.S., travel edged out nearly all other industry exports, totaling $222.3 billion in 2014, the second-largest industry export, and rose to 9.5 percent of total U.S. exports, a nine-year high.
“On the year, more than one in nine (11.5%) new U.S. export dollars was spent by a foreign traveler in the U.S., contributing to a $75.7 billion trade surplus for the U.S. economy. Without this surplus, the U.S. trade deficit would have been 15 percent larger.”
