The jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks job numbers by sector. And the number of people employed at what the agency calls “food services and drinking places” (what the rest of us call “restaurants and bars”) went up 0.3% in February from the month before. That’s about 42,000 jobs.

That’s after hiring in that industry was down a touch in January and stayed flat in November and December. So why are more workers taking on jobs making bagels or tending bar?

Restaurant owner Joshua Pollack said these days, when he’s hiring a cook or a dishwasher or a pastry chef, he’s able to be picky.

“Which is really a relief, in comparison to ‘Oh, you have a pulse? And you can start today? Cool, you’re hired,'” he said.

Pollack runs Bridge and Tunnel Restaurant Group, which runs a number of bagel spots, delis and pizza places in the Denver area.

He said a slowdown in construction hiring in Colorado has meant those workers have come to him.

“Maybe they come seeking that decently high paying hourly job that — it’s physical, but it’s not as physical, as, say, construction,” he said.

Those workers learned to make matzo ball soup and whitefish salad in the back of the house. 

But front-of-house workers, he said, are not so easy to hire. After the pandemic, people have a lower tolerance for dealing with other people. 

“It’s mentally exhausting, it’s emotionally exhausting, it can be a lot of things,” he said.

The number of workers in the restaurant industry overall has just about caught up to where it was pre-pandemic. But a lot of those new jobs are in fast food and fast casual, not full-service restaurants.

Hudson Riehle with the National Restaurant Association says that’s because we’re more likely to prioritize convenience. We like to grab our food and go.

“What the industry calls the off-premises market; and currently of all restaurant traffic across America, 74% remains off premises,” he said. Before the pandemic, he said, it was about 61%. 

Still, people will turn to the restaurant industry for work when other parts of the economy slow down.

Adam Halberg runs Barcelona Wine Bar, which has locations around the country. He said he’s been hiring people who used to work in real estate to now sell rosé. 

“The things that people do to work for a commission — whether it’s residential real estate sales, or other types of sales — is directly applicable back to working as a server or as a bartender,” he said.

And Halberg actually needs more servers because of the warmer winter.

He said as soon as the temperature hits 55 degrees, customers want him to open the patio so they can sit outside.