The Service Economy Meltdown
By BARC Staff | Date:
An article in the New York Times today highlights the economic impact that remote work could have on service industries, which are dependent upon white-collar office workers for business. In cities in particular, the service economy sustains tens of millions of workers without college degrees. As companies have sent workers to work from home, in some cases indefinitely, they are also eliminating the jobs that depend upon office workers, including hotels, transportation, and meals.
"For this army of service workers across urban America, the pandemic risks becoming more than a short-term economic shock. If white-collar America doesn’t return to the office, service workers will be left with nobody to serve," according to the article.