The demand contributed to 644,000 open jobs in the accommodation and food services sector on the last business day of May, an increase of 209,000 positions from a year earlier and the highest monthly level since the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking the data in 2000.

The surge in openings comes as employment at restaurants and bars grew more quickly than the overall economy, with 10.7 million workers in June, up 3 percent from a year earlier, according to the U.S. Labor Department. That compares with a 1.8 percent gain for total payrolls over the same period, figures show.

The trend extends beyond the coasts. In Arizona, job growth in food services and drinking places rose 3.6 percent in 2013, outpacing total employment gains of 2.1 percent and causing average weekly restaurant wages to rise 1.3 percent -- almost twice total state wage growth, said George Hammond, Tucson-based director of the University of Arizona’s Economic and Business Research Center. Prices in the Phoenix area for food purchased away from home also climbed, he said.

‘Drawn Back’

“I would expect this to result in unemployed residents in other industries to be attracted to jobs in the restaurant/bar sector,” Hammond said in an e-mail. “I’d also expect some retirees to be drawn back into the labor market.”

Still, some labor economists are skeptical about the depth of the shortage.

“Employers often complain they can’t find skilled enough workers at the wages they want to offer -- that’s probably right,” said Gary Burtless, a labor economist at the Washington-based Brookings Institution. “It’s also the case that they aren’t offering very good wages.”

Workers in food services in Arizona earned $16,622 last year on average, more than the U.S. average of $16,446 and 1 percent less than in Texas, Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows.