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Service industry

COVID-19

Manufacturers recovering as service industry continues to suffer

by Kimberly Adams
Nov 25, 2020
Orders for big-ticket items are a rare economic bright spot. But many businesses that rely on in-person customers are hurting.
Workers manufacture face shields in New York. Demand is healthy for medical and cleaning supplies.
Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images
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COVID & Unemployment

The job market is still in recovery, but it's also still losing momentum

by Mitchell Hartman
Nov 6, 2020
The decline in unemployment has slowed since an early rebound from the first wave of COVID-19 shutdowns.
The manufacturing and construction sectors have done pretty well throughout the pandemic, but But, jobs in travel, hotels and restaurants are still way down.
Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images
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COVID-19

What happens to consumer spending next in the stop-and-go COVID-19 economy?

by Marielle Segarra
Nov 5, 2020
It doesn't look good, considering the pandemic is still raging and there's no additional federal relief yet.
A man waits for his lunch order at relatively empty Grand Central Market in downtown Los Angeles in June.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images
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COVID & Unemployment

There are big variations in the state-by-state unemployment picture

by Mitchell Hartman
Sep 21, 2020
States that rely heavily on the in-person service sector are still facing high unemployment, while farm states are seeing lower jobless rates.
States that rely heavily on face-to-face service jobs, like New York, have the highest unemployment.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
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COVID-19

Restaurants struggling to hire, despite high unemployment

by Kristin Schwab
Aug 27, 2020
The pandemic is worsening the labor crunch in an industry that's been short-handed for years.
A chef prepares patrons' meals at a restaurant in Tampa, Florida.
Octavio Jones/Getty Images
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COVID & Unemployment

How's the jobs recovery? Depends on the sector of the economy.

by Mitchell Hartman
Aug 7, 2020
Service-sector jobs are coming back, but professionals who've been working from home are facing layoffs.
A waiter serves a customer outdoors at a Maryland restaurant in June. Service-industry jobs saw the biggest comeback in the July jobs report.
Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images
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COVID-19

Dine-in restaurants see takeout success as a recipe for the future

by Sara Hossaini
Aug 3, 2020
The owner of one fine-dining restaurant in California opened a new eatery during the pandemic as a takeout operation.
Many restaurants, like this one in Washington, D.C., are relying on takeout only during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images
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COVID-19

A hair stylist choosing between her livelihood and flattening the curve

by Kai Ryssdal and Maria Hollenhorst
Mar 25, 2020
Ashley Nelson wasn’t forced to stop working, but she decided to anyway.
Ashley Nelson, a hair stylist at the Collab Salon in Boise, Idaho, recently decided to stop taking appointments because of COVID-19.
Arlie Sommer
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United States of Work

One bartender faces the prospect of weeks without pay: “It’s gonna become a problem pretty quick.”

by Kai Ryssdal and Maria Hollenhorst
Mar 16, 2020
Neil Cairns, a bartender in Portland, Oregon says he'll just have to "hope for the best" as he faces reduced hours and the prospect of bar closures.
Neil Cairns at the Game Knight Lounge in Portland, Oregon.
Thomas Patterson
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Workplace Culture

Unpredictable schedules are part of the retail gig but new policies could change that

by Meghan McCarty Carino
Jun 13, 2019
But there are budding efforts to give hourly workers in those fields more dependable hours.
Many retail and service workers have to work night shifts and then return to work the next morning, dubbed "clopening."
Bradley Gordon via Flickr
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