The National Restaurant Association’s (NRA) 2023 State of the Industry report predicts that restaurant employment will surpass pre-pandemic levels in 2023, but the recovery will be slow and many operators will likely have trouble filling positions. The food service and restaurant workforce will expand by about 500,000 in 2023. Most of those new jobs (about 300,000) will be concentrated in restaurants, specifically, according to historical U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data projections. Restaurant operators still face a tight labor market and may have trouble filling job openings, with 79% of operators surveyed by the NRA reporting difficulty hiring.