Restaurant industry on hiring spree
By Darrell Smith, Sacramento Bee
Restaurant hiring outpaced overall employment growth nationwide year-over-year, and one in five eateries plans to increase its staffing in the second half of the year, according to the National Restaurant Association.
The industry trade group, in its quarterly employment report, said restaurant employment rose 2.7 percent nationally from June 2011 to last month, compared with the 1.3 percent overall increase in total employment nationwide.
Hudson Rhiele, an association senior vice president, called the hiring climate in his industry “an improved, but not optimal, environment.”
Still, there are positive takeaways for California’s $64 billion restaurant industry, the nation’s largest with more than 1.4 million employees.
Rhiele said restaurant hiring in California outpaced national hiring both in the industry and overall year-over-year.