The National Restaurant Association reported that restaurants are expected to add 515,000 jobs this summer season, according to its 18^th Annual Eating and Drinking Place Summer Employment Forecast.  This projected gain would be the fourth consecutive year restaurants add at least 500,000 jobs during the season.

Summer is the busiest season for restaurants in many parts of the country, and the stronger business leads to additional employment opportunities at all levels of a restaurant operation.  Roughly one in six eating and drinking place establishments operate on a seasonal basis, and many of these are only open for business during the summer season.  These seasonal businesses do all of their hiring for the summer months, and therefore are responsible for the bulk of the summer jobs.

The states projected to add the most eating and drinking place jobs during the 2016 summer season are New York (44,400), California (41,700), Massachusetts (30,700), Texas (29,700), Ohio (25,500), New Jersey (25,300), Illinois (22,800) and Michigan (21,900).

The states projected to register the largest proportional employment increase during the 2016 summer season are Maine (32.1 percent increase), Alaska (18.9 percent increase), Delaware (17.6 percent increase), Rhode Island (15.1 percent increase) and New Hampshire (14.3 percent increase).

The number of summer (June, July, and August) jobs is the difference between the projected total 2016 summer employment and the March 2016 employment level. Generally, the U.S. restaurant industry begins to ramp up its summer seasonal hiring in April, and it peaks in June, July, and August.

The restaurant industry is typically the nation’s second largest creator of seasonal jobs during the summer months – ranking only behind the construction industry.