According to the official US labor statistics, the number of people employed increased by 678 thousand in February, compared to the 400 thousand expected by experts, bringing the unemployment rate down to 3.8%, only 2.1 million fewer than in February 2019. (Over the past year, hourly wages have also increased by 5.1%.) Tourism and hospitality has taken the biggest share of the increase, with a total of 303,000 new jobs created in the tourism and hospitality sectors. The USTA, the trade association responsible for the data, points out that 73% of the jobs lost came from tourism and hospitality, while US unemployment is only 1.4% below 2019 levels, the sector’s unemployment rate is disproportionately high, lagging behind at 9%. This backlog is due to a lack of international travelers, a large drop in business travel and professional events, which reduces income from these, while there is also a shortage of available labor, which also hinders hiring. To increase traffic, they are calling for the removal of the mandatory test for foreigners and a strengthening of the marketing of US tourism.