In the June 25th Los Angeles Times story “Tourism industry is L.A. County’s No. 1 job generator” the reporter asserted that this development is “not necessarily a good thing: Tourism and hospitality do not pay out as much in wages and salaries.”
While tourism may not pay as much as some other industries on average, there are many opportunities on the higher end of the pay scale as with any industry. For example, in the U.S., the average wage for managers in the “Arts, Entertainment and Recreation” sector was $86,960, and for CEOs, $160,090. In the hotel sector, the average wage for managers is $67,120 and for CEOs it’s $144,780. In the “Food Services and Drinking Places” sector, the average wage in the U.S. is $56,410 for managers and $132,030 for CEOs. Although comparative figures are not available for individual states and cities, we know that California salaries tend to skew higher than most areas of the U.S.
More importantly, during this recession we should be looking how tourism can help keep our state economy afloat while other industries are floundering. The bottom line is, tourism creates jobs across a broad spectrum of skill sets and educational levels – a resource sorely needed during these tough times. Additionally, tourism offers employment across a huge variety of economic sectors – from hospitality to retail, restaurants and attractions, to rental cars and other transportation businesses.
While it is true that cargo traffic was down in 2008, tourism is remarkably resilient, weathering down economies better than most other industries. This provides much needed tax revenues at both local and state levels, and reduces unemployment levels around the state. Tourism accounted for $2.2 billion in local tax receipts in 2008, up 0.7 percent from 2007, and provided for $3.6 billion in state tax receipts, up 0.1 percent. Tourism unemployment is lower than other industries, too. Between 2007 and 2008, the average number of Californians employed during the year dropped 1.2 percent, while in tourism, employment dropped by only a third of that amount at 0.4 percent. Last year the tourism industry provided needed employment for 1 out of every 23 Californians. Because tourism is largely a service industry, which means the work can only be done by employees (as opposed to machines) and the work cannot be outsourced to other states or countries, tourism spending in the state has more of a direct impact on jobs than in most other industries. For every $106,000 in tourism-related spending in the state, one Californian is employed.
California has one of the highest unemployment rates in the U.S., so instead of bemoaning that tourism isn’t as high paying as other industries, we should count our blessings. As of May 2009, our unemployment rate was 11.5 percent — higher than all but four other states. I realize that focusing on the “glass half empty” sells newspapers and boosts TV news ratings, but during these troubled economic times, we should appreciate all of the employment and tax revenues that we can get.
*Source: US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics