US Hotels and Their Workers: Room for Improvement

Executive Summary

Introduction

An Overview of the Hotel Industry

• High Road and Low Road: Industrial Organization and Patterns of Competition
• Work Organization and Workforce Development Opportunities

The Jobs

• Hotel Employment Grew Rapidly Over Last Two Decades
• Hotels Are More Than Twice as Large as Average U.S. Business Establishment
• Hotel Workers Earn 72 Cents for Every Dollar Earned by U.S. Workers Overall
• Gap Between High and Low Earners in Hotel Industry Is Growing
• Poverty Wages More Common in Hotel Industry Than in United States Overall
• Managers Make Up a Growing Proportion of Hotel Employment
• Workers in Low-Wage Food Service Jobs Got Largest Percentage Raises in Last Decade
• Wages Often Lower When Hotel Jobs Are Outsourced
• Employee Benefits Have Fallen Since 1995
• One in Five Hotel Workers Works Part-Time, One in Five Part-time Hotel Workers Would Prefer Full-Time Work
• Hotel Workers Have High Job Turnover, but Stay in the Hotel Industry
• Hotel Workers Have High Job-Related Injury Rate, Low Illness and Death Rates

• Most Hotel Workers Are Women
• Hispanic Share of Hotel Occupations Increased in the 1990s
• Nearly a Third of Foreign-Born Hotel Workers Are From Mexico
• Hotel Wage Gaps by Age, Race and Education Grew Over Past Two Decades; Male-Female Gap Narrowed

• Unions Represent 11.7 Percent of Hotel Workers
• Union Hotel Workers Tend to Earn More Than Nonunion Workers
• Poverty Wages Less Common for Union Than for Nonunion Workers
• All Hotel Workers Earn More in Regions With High Rates of Hotel Union Representation
• Union Hotel Workers Are Disproportionately Male, Foreign-Born and Racial Minorities
• Union Workers More Likely to Work Standard Full-Time Schedules
• Unions Benefit Non-White, Female, Less Educated and Foreign-Born Hotel Workers the Most

• Hotel Employment a Large Share of Total in Only a Few Metropolitan Areas
• Rapid Hotel Job Growth in Most of 20 Largest Hotel Metropolitan Areas in 1990s
• Average Hotel Size Larger in Major Hotel Areas Than U.S. Hotel Average, but Declined in 1990s
• Except in Las Vegas, Hotel Wages Are Too Low to Support a Single Parent and One Child
• Hotel Job Growth Strong in Western States, Weak in Northeast
• Hotel Wages in Most States Below U.S. Average
• Union Representation Is Concentrated in a Few States and Metropolitan Areas
• A More Detailed Analysis of Hotel Jobs and Workers in Five Major Tourist States

• No Recovery Yet for Hotel Jobs
• Hotel Unemployment Increased More Than U.S.  Rate From September to December 2001 and More Than in Same Months in 2000
• Nearly All Major Hotel Metropolitan Areas Experienced Hotel Job Losses in Last Year
• Large Occupancy Losses in Top Segments of the Industry, but Room Rates Fell Only Slightly

• Provide Government and Foundation Funding to Multi-Employer Partnerships in the Industry
• Raise Wages for Low-Wage Workers: Minimum Wage, Living Wage Laws and Job Quality Standards on Publicly Financed Hotel Projects
• Protect Workers’ Right to Form and Join Unions
• Integrate Education, Training, Workforce Development and Career Path Development More Fully into Welfare Reform
• Require Wage and Benefit Parity for Part-Time and Full-Time Workers
• Collect Detailed Industry Data Where Hotels Are Especially Important to the Local Economy

Footnotes

Tables

Table 1.  Market Shares of Chains and Independents, 1990-2000

Table 2. Sources of Hotel Revenue, 1992-1997

Table 3. Employment in Hotel Industry and Entire U.S., 1984-2000

Table 4.  Median Hourly Wages in Hotel Industry and Entire United States, 1979-2000

Table 5.  Median Hourly Wages of High- and Low-Wage Earners in Hotel Industry, 1979-2000

Table 6.  Hourly Wages of High-, Median and Low-Wage Earners in Selected Industries and Entire United States,  2000 (2000 dollars)

Table 8.  Annual Wages and Salaries, Benefits and Total Compensation per Full-Time Equivalent Employee (FTE), 1979-1999

Table 9.  Percent of Workers Working Part-Time and Long Hours, 1979-2000

Table 10.  Occupational Injuries, Illnesses and Fatalities per 100 Full-Time Workers, 1992-2000

Table 11.  Demographic Characteristics of Workers, 1979-2000

Table 12.  Demographic Characteristics of Major Occupational Categories in Hotel Industry, Late 1980s to Late 1990s     

Table 13.  Percent of Foreign-Born Workers Born in Each Region, Late 1990s

Table 14.  Median Hourly Wages by Age, 1979-2000

Table 15.  Median Hourly Wages by Sex, 1979-2000

Table 16.  Median Hourly Wages by Education, 1979-2000

Table 17. Median Hourly Wages by Race, 1979-2000

Table 18.  Median Hourly Wages of Native and Foreign-Born Workers, 1995-2000

Table 19.  Union Representation and Membership, 1989-2000

Table 20.  Median Hourly Wages of Union and Nonunion Hotel Workers, 1989-2000

Table 21.  Demographic Characteristics of Union and Nonunion Hotel Workers, 2000

Table 22.  Percent of Union and Nonunion Hotel Workers Working Part-Time and Long Hours, 1979-2000    

Table 23.  Median Hourly Wages of Union and Nonunion Hotel Workers by Demographic Characteristics and by Occupation, 2000  

Table 24.  Hotel Employment in the Top 20 Hotel Metropolitan Areas, 2000

Table 25.  Hotel Job Growth in the Top 20 Hotel Metropolitan Areas, 1989-2000

Table 26.  Hotel Establishment Size in the Top 20 Hotel Metropolitan Areas, 1989-2000

Table 27.  Average Annual Hotel Wages and Basic Family Budgets in the Top 20 Hotel Metropolitan Areas, 1999       

Table 29.  Percent of Workers Working Part-Time and Long Hours in Selected States in Late 1990s

Table 30.  Demographic Characteristics of Hotel Workers in Selected States in Late 1990s

Table 31.  Hourly Wages of High-, Median and Low-Wage Hotel Workers in Selected States, Late 1990s     

Table 32.  Median Hourly Wages of Union and Nonunion Hotel Workers in Selected States in Late 1990s   

Table 33.  Changes in Hotel Industry and U.S. Unemployment Rates, 2000-2001

Table 34.  Hotel Employment in 19 Major Hotel Metropolitan Areas March, 2001 – March 2002

Table 35.  Percentage Change in Hotel Occupancy Rate From Previous Year, 1999-2001

Table 36.  Percentage Change in Hotel Average Daily Room Rate From Previous, Year 1999-2001

Appendix: Hotel Labor Market Data for the States

Appendix Table 1.  Hotel Jobs and Job Growth by State, 1989-2000

Appendix Table 2.  Average Annual Hotel Wages by State, 1989-2000

Figure 1.  New Property Construction, 1990-2000

Figure 2.  Major Career Paths in the Hotel Industry in Late 1990s

Figure 3.  Average Establishment Size for Hotels and All U.S. Business Establishments, 1984-2000

Figure 4.  Percentage of Workers Earning Poverty Wages, 1979-2000

Figure 5.  Occupational Composition of the Hotel Workforce, Late 1990s

Figure 6.  Median Hourly Wages for Selected Hotel Occupations in Hotels and Other Industries in Late 1990s

Figure 7.  Percent of Workers in 1999 Who Worked in the Same Industry and/or Occupation in 2000

Figure 8.  Countries of Birth of Foreign-Born Hotel Workers in Late 1990s

Figure 9.  Percentage of Union and Nonunion Hotel Workers Earning Poverty Wages, 1989-2000

Figure 10.  Location Quotient for Hotel Employment in  the Top 20 Hotel Metropolitan Areas, 2000

Figure 11.  U.S. Hotel Employment, January 2001-May 2002

Figure 12.  Hotel Industry and U.S. Unemployment Rates, 2000 and 2001