Food Services and Drinking Places: NAICS 722

About the Food Services and Drinking Places subsector

The food services and drinking places subsector is part of the accommodation and food services sector.

Industries in the Food Services and Drinking Places subsector prepare meals, snacks, and beverages to customer order for immediate on-premises and off-premises consumption. There is a wide range of establishments in these industries. Some provide food and drink only; while others provide various combinations of seating space, waiter/waitress services and incidental amenities, such as limited entertainment. The industries in the subsector are grouped based on the type and level of services provided. The industry groups are full-service restaurants; limited-service eating places; special food services, such as food service contractors, caterers, and mobile food services; and drinking places.

North American Industry Classification System

The food services and drinking places subsector consists of these industry groups:

  • Full-Service Restaurants: NAICS 7221
  • Limited-Service Eating Places: NAICS 7222
  • Special Food Services: NAICS 7223
  • Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages): NAICS 7224

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment and unemployment in food services and drinking places. While most data are obtained from employer or establishment surveys, information on industry unemployment comes from a national survey of households. The following tables present an overview of the industry including the number of jobs, the unemployment rate of those previously employed in the industry, union membership and representation, mass layoffs, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment, Unemployment, and Layoffs

Data series Back
data
Jun.
2008
Jul.
2008
Aug.
2008
Sep.
2008

Employment (in thousands)

 

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

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9,824.0 9,819.8 (P) 9,821.6 (P) 9,816.8

Employment, nonsupervisory workers

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8,996.8 8,979.6 (P) 8,962.7  

Unemployment

 

Unemployment rate

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9.9% 9.5% 9.4% 8.2%

Layoffs

 

Mass layoff events

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81 58 52  

Initial claimants for unemployment benefits

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11,167 4,543 4,455  

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey, Mass Layoff Statistics)

Union Membership and Representation

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data
2004 2005 2006 2007

Union membership and representation

 

Members of unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

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1.2% 1.3% 1.1% 0.9%

Represented by unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

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1.6% 1.5% 1.4% 1.2%

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Extended Mass Layoffs

Data series Back
data
3rd quarter
2007
4th quarter
2007
1st quarter
2008
2nd quarter
2008

Extended mass layoff events

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32 32 (P) 36 (P) 109

Separations

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6,594 5,232 (P) 6,548 (P) 24,381

Initial claimants

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5,460 5,677 (P) 4,638 (P) 21,837

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Mass Layoff Statistics)

Employment by Occupation

Data series Employment,
2007

Combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food

2,110,130

Cooks, fast food

544,000

Cooks, restaurant

770,140

First-line supervisors/managers of food preparation and serving workers

600,560

Waiters and waitresses

2,027,630

(Source: Occupational Employment Statistics)

Projections

For projected (future) employment estimates, see the National Employment Matrix, which includes employment estimates by industry and occupation for food services and drinking places.

(Source: Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections)

Earnings and Hours

This section presents data on employee earnings and weekly hours. The latest industry averages of hourly earnings and weekly hours for production or nonsupervisory employees, as well as weekly earnings by union membership status, are shown. In addition, recent hourly and annual earnings are shown for occupations commonly found in food services and drinking places.

Earnings and Hours of Production Workers

Data series Back
data
May
2008
Jun.
2008
Jul.
2008
Aug.
2008

Average hourly earnings

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$9.54 $9.54 $9.52 (P) $9.66

Average weekly hours

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24.5 25.0 24.8 (P) 24.9

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Union Membership and Representation

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data
Median weekly earnings
2004 2005 2006 2007

Union membership and representation

 

Full-time workers

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$378 $372 $382 $399

Members of unions

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$467 $400 $480 $476

Represented by unions

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$422 $406 $481 $490

Nonunion

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$377 $372 $381 $398

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series Wages, 2007
Hourly Annual
Median Mean Median Mean

Combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food

$7.44 $7.71 $15,480 $16,030

Cooks, fast food

$7.74 $8.06 $16,100 $16,770

Cooks, restaurant

$10.04 $10.37 $20,880 $21,560

First-line supervisors/managers of food preparation and serving workers

$13.02 $13.99 $27,080 $29,100

Waiters and waitresses

$7.58 $8.78 $15,760 $18,260

(Source: Occupational Employment Statistics)

Work-related Fatalities, Injuries, and Illnesses

This section presents data for the industry on the number of workplace fatalities and the rates of workplace injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers in food services and drinking places. An injury or illness is considered to be work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition.

Data series 2004 2005 2006 2007

Fatalities

 

Number of fatalities

118 109 146 (P) 126

Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers

 

Total recordable cases

4.2 4.1 4.2  

Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer

1.4 1.3 1.4  

Cases involving days away from work

1.0 0.9 1.0  

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

0.4 0.4 0.4  

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments in food services and drinking places. Also included in this section is information on productivity, presented as the rate of change in output per hour of workers in the industry.

Establishments

Data series Back
data
1st quarter
2007
2nd quarter
2007
3rd quarter
2007
4th quarter
2007

Number of establishments

 

Private industry

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(P) 530,791 (P) 536,303 (P) 540,324 (P) 540,142

Local government

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(P) 544 (P) 543 (P) 545 (P) 545

State government

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(P) 4 (P) 4 (P) 3 (P) 3

Federal government

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(P) 144 (P) 143 (P) 141 (P) 142

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Productivity

Data series Back
data
2004 2005 2006 2007

Labor productivity index, output per hour

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106.975 107.944 109.719 109.207

Percent change from previous year

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0.6 0.9 1.6 -0.5

Labor index, total labor hours

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112.476 114.670 117.047 119.614

Percent change from previous year

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3.1 2.0 2.1 2.2

Output index

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120.321 123.779 128.423 130.627

Percent change from previous year

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3.7 2.9 3.8 1.7

Unit labor costs index

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119.256 121.377 125.463 131.271

Percent change from previous year

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2.1 1.8 3.4 4.6

(Source: Productivity and Costs)

Other BLS Resources

Career Guide to Industries

See food services and drinking places in the Career Guide to Industries.

 

Data extracted on: October 08, 2008