• Bars, restaurants and hotels rapidly added workers in July, leading the U.S. to a robust month of employment gains.
• Government hiring also built upon a recent rally as state-run universities and local school districts staffed up ahead of the fall semester.
• Manufacturing and construction added a decent 27,000 jobs and 11,000 jobs, respectively, while transportation and warehousing posted 50,000.

The hiring blitz at bars, restaurants and hotels continued in July as demand for cooks, service staff and accommodation workers led the U.S. to yet another robust month of employment gains.

The broad leisure and hospitality sector, which includes restaurants and lodging, jumped higher once again with an overall gain of 380,000 jobs. Food services and drinking places accounted for just over 250,000 of those positions.

The peak summer months and relaxed Covid-19 fears are leading more Americans to dine out and have sparked a strong comeback in a sector the pandemic gutted in 2020, economists say. 

The Labor Department noted the recent comeback in leisure and hospitality has left employment in that sector just 10% below where it was in February 2020.

The headline numbers from the July 2021 jobs report showed the U.S. economy added 943,000 jobs last month and that the unemployment rate fell sharply from 5.9% to 5.4%. CNBC studied the net changes by industry for July jobs based on data contained in the government's employment report.

Government hiring also built upon a recent rally with a net add of 240,000 jobs. State and local governments contributed the bulk of those gains as universities and other public school districts staffed up ahead of the fall 2021 semester.

"In July, notable job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality, in local government education, and in professional and business services," the Labor Department said in a press release. "Staffing fluctuations in education due to the pandemic have distorted the normal seasonal buildup and layoff patterns, likely contributing to the job gains in July."

The manufacturing and construction industries added a decent 27,000 jobs and 11,000 jobs, respectively, while transportation and warehousing posted a gain of nearly 50,000.

Health care and social assistance tacked on 46,800 and the broad professional and business services industry added 60,000.

Retail trade posted a mild net decline of 5,500 jobs. Building material and garden supply stores lost more than 30,000 positions over the month as Americans pulled back on at-home projects and the springtime gardening sales cooled. 

— CNBC's Nate Rattner contributed reporting.

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