Workers in US accommodation and food services quit at a seasonally adjusted rate of 3.5 percent in August 2026, down from 3.7 percent in July, according to preliminary federal data[2]. That is still well above the 1.9 percent rate across all US industries[2]. The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the figures in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) on September 29, 2026[1].
What the numbers show
About 507,000 workers quit jobs in accommodation and food services in August, compared with 556,000 a year earlier[2]. BLS treats quits as separations that are generally started by the worker, not the employer[1]. In the wider leisure and hospitality sector, the rate was 3.3 percent[2].
Nationally, the picture was stable. Quits held at 3.1 million, or 1.9 percent[1]. Job openings stayed roughly flat at 7.1 million[1]. Hires came to about 5.2 million and total separations to 5.1 million[1]. Layoffs and discharges stood at about 1.6 million, a rate of 1.0 percent[1].
Context, not a housekeeping benchmark
Accommodation and food services is a broad industry group. It includes hotels, but also restaurants and other food service employers, so the 3.5 percent rate does not describe hotel housekeeping staff alone. It also counts the people on those employers' own payrolls. Room attendants employed by an outside cleaning company are generally classified under that company's own industry, not under accommodation, so the figure is not a benchmark for contractor crews. The August number is preliminary as well, which makes it better read as part of a trend than as a fixed target.
For a hotel with in-house housekeeping, the sector rate is loose background. For a contractor, it mainly describes the hotel side of the labor market your clients compete in.
The more useful number is your own. Count the room attendants, housepersons and laundry staff who resigned during a month and set that against your headcount for the month. Treat the result as an internal approximation only: BLS builds its rate on its own employment base and survey method, so your figure is not directly comparable with the federal series. Track it over several months and keep quits apart from layoffs, dismissals and transfers to other hotel accounts, since BLS also reports those separately from quits.
If your own trend is rising, the cost tends to show up in recruiting time, training hours and slower room turnover while new staff learn the floors. Check with your HR or payroll advisor how best to define and record departures for your business.
ARPCLEAN take
What does this mean for housekeeping?
For cleaning contractors
- Own quit trend: Track resignations per hotel account each month and compare your figure with your own earlier months, not with the accommodation sector rate.
- Contract pricing: Check whether your per-room or hourly rates cover the recruiting and training cost of replacing staff who leave.
For hotels
- Clean turnover data: Separate in-house housekeeping quits from layoffs and transfers, and keep contractor staff out of that count.
- Staffing plan: Review cover for peak checkout days if your own housekeeping quits trend upward over several months.
Staff, minutes per room and cost per room in one calculation.
Calculate cost per room →Sources
- 1Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary, August 2026 (USDL-26-1547)U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ·
- 2Table 4. Quits levels and rates by industry and region, seasonally adjustedU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ·
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About this story
ARPCLEAN Editorial
Archie Grey is the pen name of the ARPCLEAN editorial team for English-language news. This story was prepared with AI assistance, checked against the linked sources and approved by our editors before publication. Spotted a mistake? Write to [email protected].
No corrections since publication.
