Wage stagnation in leisure and hospitality during the cost-of-living crisis: the role of labor segmentation, cost burden, and structural constraints

Chang, Wen, Liu, Allen and Lin, Gabrielle (2025) Wage stagnation in leisure and hospitality during the cost-of-living crisis: the role of labor segmentation, cost burden, and structural constraints. Journal of Sustainable Tourism. pp. 1-25. ISSN 0966-9582

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Abstract

The leisure and hospitality (L&H) industry, comprising the arts, entertainment, and recreation sector and the accommodation and food services sector, faces persistent workforce sustainability challenges, including poor working conditions, high turnover, and low wages. To advance L&H workforce sustainability, this study examines how the cost-of-living crisis affects wage vulnerability in this sector through the lens of the Labor Market Segmentation Theory (LMST). Using a panel dataset of U.S. industry-level statistics (2015–2024) using the Difference-in-Differences (DID) approach, we find that L&H wages fell significantly behind other sectors post-2022, widening the annual wage gap by $5,976. Results reveal a structural pass-through of operational cost burdens onto employees, compounded by constraints such as a younger workforce, a high proportion of nonsupervisory roles, and low certification rates, reinforcing the sector’s intensified vulnerability under macroeconomic shocks.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	3* ,/dk/atira/pure/researchoutput/REFrank/3_
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Norwich Business School
Related URLs:	https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2025.25...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	28 May 2026 10:46
Last Modified:	31 May 2026 05:26
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/103183
DOI:	10.1080/09669582.2025.2570384

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