RALEIGH, NC (WTVD) – The US economy appears to be in the midst of a summer upswing. The New Jobs report saw 943,000 new jobs and an unemployment rate that fell to 5.4% – a 16-month low. The fastest growing industry is leisure and hospitality, including many hotel workers in the triangle who were once laid off by COVID-19 and are now thriving again.
When COVID locked the world out and left economies in a tailspin, Alton Best-Philyaw lost his livelihood.
“I was laid off in early April,” said Best-Philyaw, a Goldsboro-born and Raleigh-born man who lost his job at a Charlotte hotel and suddenly struggled to make ends meet with gig work.
“I was basically doing Grubhub and Uber Eats, just trying to do something to make some money. Fortunately, I had a lot of support from the family who helped me with this. But it was a fight, ”he said.
Sixteen months later, after the food deliveries and a stint at an Amazon warehouse, Best-Philyaw is back in the hospitality business.
Of the 943,000 jobs created in July, the lion’s share (380,000) were in leisure and hospitality. One of these jobs was that of Alton Best-Philyaw. Years after he left Raleigh last month, his old boss at the downtown Sheraton wanted him back.
“So they called me and asked if I would like to work here at the Sheraton, and I said absolutely,” he recalls.
Of the 943,000 new jobs created in July, the lion’s share was in the leisure and hotel industries. Tonight, the Triangle hotel employees, once depressed by the COVID economy, are cautiously optimistic about the future • AT 11 • # abc11 pic.twitter.com/u9CRHgCIw9
– Joel Brown (@ JoelBrownABC11) August 7, 2021
President Joe Biden acknowledged at the White House on Friday the potential pitfalls the Delta-variant-fueled surge in COVID could bring to the economy. But he was celebrating the historic job numbers.
“Economic growth is the fastest in 40 years,” said Biden. “Jobs have increased. The unemployment rate is the lowest since the pandemic.”
Back in downtown Raleigh, the leisure business is picking up again. This weekend’s esports bonanza, the Carolina Games Summit, is filling hotel rooms, not to mention restaurants and bars.
Back at work after two weeks, this front desk manager is hopeful but humble.
“We had a whole year in which basically everything was postponed and we didn’t know when this would happen again. The fact that things are getting better sooner rather than later is a really good thing, ”said Best-Philyaw.
But while vacation travel is returning to some semblance of what it was before the pandemic, work travel is still not where it was. This continues to harm the hospitality industry. The new surge in the delta variant of COVID only increases uncertainty.
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