Hospitality figures leave many scratching their heads

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It’s the first mystery of 2011.

On Jan. 4, the state released November unemployment data for its 100 counties.

The data showed that unemployment in the Charlotte area increased to 10.8 percent from 10.2 percent in October, with the largest percentage of job losses in the leisure and hospitality sector.

According to the Employment Security Commission of North Carolina, that sector had a 4 percent drop in employment in only a month, shedding a whopping 3,500 jobs.

The news came as a shock to many in the hospitality and leisure industry. They could not understand why the ESC was reporting so many lost jobs, especially because business seemed to pick up toward the end of 2010.

Sid Smith, executive director of the Charlotte Area Hotel Association, was among those surprised by the announcement about the 3,500 jobs lost. So was Joseph Hallow, president and chief operating officer of Bissell Hotels and a board member for the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority. Ditto for Mohammad Jenatian, president of the Greater Charlotte Hospitality and Tourism Alliance; Tom Gabbard, president of the North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center; Moira Quinn, spokeswoman for Charlotte Center City Partners; and Tim Newman, CEO of the CRVA.

Indeed, the people who should know why there would be that many jobs lost, and from where they came, were perplexed. Some of them said they didn’t know of any major layoffs that would have attributed to the drop.

While there’s usually a decline in hospitality and leisure jobs toward the end of the year — thanks to some attractions shutting down or scaling back offerings as cold weather arrives — the spike in lost jobs from October to November just didn’t seem to make sense. Moreover, some in Charlotte’s hospitality industry said hotel and restaurant business was good toward the end of last year, with many people making hires.

So, it was a mystery.

The only people who would seem to have the answer are those at the ESC, right? After all, they compile the statistics. Surely they could clear the whole matter up with a succinct explanation.

Not so fast.

The ESC, it turns out, does not provide full disclosure when it comes to the source of its unemployment statistics. Larry Parker, an ESC spokesman, said the numbers are estimates based on surveys of employers.

But the ESC does not provide the names of the employers, he said. I presume that’s a move to protect sensitive information about companies.

The ESC would not even provide the number of Charlotte-area employers included in its most recent survey, although the agency does disclose the number of employers surveyed in North Carolina every month: 15,000 to 18,000.

It seems like we might never know why the Charlotte area lost so many hospitality and leisure jobs in one month, and those in the industry looking for answers won’t get any satisfaction.

For me, as a regular resident, this mystery gives me something extra to think about whenever the state releases its unemployment data.

Editor Deon Roberts can be reached at [email protected].