How Job Losses Stack Up Between Disneyland And Walt Disney World
The pandemic has resulted in unprecedented job losses for Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort. With attractions still closed at Disneyland Resort, the parks resorts, a recent piece in the Orange County Register advises that nearly 44,000 theme park workers in California have lost their jobs.
This information and other snapshots of the impact the virus has had on the theme park industry was the subject of a recent report by the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions. A focal point of this report was the vastly different approaches to theme park reopenings had by Governors Newsom (California) and DeSantis (Florida.)
With theme parks in California still remaining shuttered a year later, its not surprising that job losses in California than 48 other states combined. As the OC Register reports, California also lost 17,000 more theme park jobs than Florida even though the theme park industry employs 25,000 more workers in Florida.
As we’ve previously reported here at MickeyBlog, after the theme parks closed on both coasts last March, Governor DeSantis in Florida moved quickly to try and get tourism back on it’s feet. California on the other hand took a more slow and cautious approach. To this day Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood remianed shuttered.
Jim Futrell, an historian with the IAAPA recently compiled a 33 page report on the impact of COVID-19 on the theme page industry with data taken directly from the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics. For those interested you can look at the report in its entirety here. In the report, Futrell states, “In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the attractions industry has faced its greatest crisis since World War II.” The report continues, “At one point in April, nearly every attraction in the world was closed as the pandemic spread globally.”
California and Florida make up half of the amusement park employment in the USA. Employees on both coasts have been hit hard by the pandemic with California accounting for 39% of the amusement park job losses from July 2019 – July 2020. Florida faired slightly better with 24% of industry jobs.
According to the report, amusement park employment started with a record high of 275,000 jobs in July of 2019 to 162,300 a year later. That’s a increase in unemployment of 41%.
Though both California and Floridan saw an 80% drop in amusement park employment, Florida was a bit quicker to bounce back having reopened in July thus reducing unemployment by 30%. According to the report, California lost 44,000 theme park jobs with Florida losing 27,000. Elsewhere in the US, amusement parks resulting in additional loses of about 42,000 jobs.
The data also highlights the fact that the jobs losses for theme parks has bee 5X larger than the national average with wages falling some $756 million. This is a story that we’ll continue to follow closely here at MickeyBlog. Readers are encouraged to keep following along for further Disneyland and Walt Disney World news and updates!
Source: Orange County Register