As New Hampshire enters another summer tourism season, recent employment data shows how seasonal hiring patterns may be changing across the Granite State. Summer employment is important to New Hampshire’s tourism, recreation, hospitality and retail sectors. Private-sector employment typically rises during the summer months.
New Hampshire Employment Security data shows private-sector industries did see growth in June, July and August 2025, but the increase was smaller than what the state has seen on average over the past decade.
Total private-sector employment increased from May to August in 2025, but this increase was 17% smaller than the 2024 increase in employment. Total private-sector employment increased from 607,047 jobs in May to 618,165 jobs in August following a peak in July at 620,646 jobs. From 2015 to 2024, the percent increase of total private sector employment from May to August was about 2.9% (excluding the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020). In 2025, it was just 1.8%, reflecting 6,146 fewer seasonal jobs than the non-pandemic 2015-2024 average.
In 2025, 62% of the summertime increase in employment came from the Accommodation and Food Service industry, which includes hotels and restaurants.
Arts, entertainment and recreation, which includes outdoor recreation businesses, camps and entertainment venues, accounted for 26% of overall summer employment growth. Construction accounted for almost 8%, as the warmer months may have allowed for more building and maintenance activity. Retail trade, which has historically been a primary contributor, was less prominent in 2025 than the average from the last decade, including a summer employment increase only about half the size of 2024’s expansion.
From 2015-2019, the average seasonal increase in private-sector employment was about 16,595, while the 2021-2024 average was 19,675. While there were increases in summertime employment immediately following the pandemic, 2023 summer seasonal employment (16,465) was about at the same level as 2015 (16,433). Seasonal employment was lower in 2024 and 2025 than in 2015.
The slower growth last summer may reflect several factors, including a constrained labor force, increased difficulty hiring seasonal workers from foreign countries, affordability challenges that have made living near tourism centers harder for workers, or shifts in tourism and consumer spending patterns.
While this data can only offer limited insight into the permanence of these changes, they highlight that workforce availability may increasingly shape the ability of businesses and local economies to fully benefit from peak seasonal economic activity as New Hampshire enters the summer tourism season for 2026.
Ben Reynolds is a senior policy analyst with the NH Fiscal Policy Institute. The NHFPI Policy Memo is a partnership of the NH Fiscal Policy Institute and NH Business Review.
As New Hampshire enters another summer tourism season, recent employment data shows how seasonal hiring patterns may be changing across the Granite State.
Women in New Hampshire are earning less than men and are less likely to be in the workforce, which can have major implications for family finances and the state’s economy.
Petroleum energy prices are rising globally, and New Hampshire is not immune to this increase. Sharp upward pressures on prices, particularly for crude oil, pose a new challenge to household budgets in the Granite State.
New U.S. Census Bureau data offer a detailed look at how New Hampshire residents have fared during and following the COVID-19 pandemic. This data, covering the five years of 2020-24, provides insight into long-term trends in income and poverty across different regions and demographic groups.
Entering 2025, the topline numbers for the New Hampshire economy were relatively strong.
NH Fiscal Policy Institute breaks down misconceptions about the Granite State
From who’s moving to New Hampshire to what actually drives state revenues and home prices, NHFPI breaks down five common misconceptions with clear, data-backed truths to help you politely myth-bust your way through the holiday.
The Granite State’s lack of median household income growth paired with the rising cost of living may have contributed to stable poverty rates between 2023 and 2024.
New Hampshire’s 2025 economy faces stalled job growth, rising costs, and long-term challenges like housing and child care despite 2024 gains.
