Well a lot of states in the USA have large restaurant based economy.
This triggered my interest but although the raw numbers do confirm the huge amount of money, percentage-wise, the difference is not that much.
Of course, my info comes from the internet but I say those guys must be accurate since they are the restaurant association:
https://www.restaurant.org/research/stateSo, Florida, New York, and North Dakota...and Alaska ...for fun!!
Alaska
$1.8 billion Estimated sales (4% of GDP) / = 10% of employment in the state
Florida
$50.1 billion Estimated sales (5% of GDP)/ = 12% of employment in the state
New York
$51.6 billion Estimated sales (3.5% of GDP) / 9% of employment in the state
North Dakota
$1.4 billion Estimated sales (2.8% of GDP) / 9% of employment in the state
I'm genuinely surprised by these, so surprised I've double-checked but those are the numbers!!!!! Percentage-wise there is no huge difference between Alaska and New York ...This is unbelievable!
But the numbers are indeed huge when it comes to people employed, 14 million, those are just restaurants, not the entire accommodation industry.
A nation-level lockdown of everything for 6 weeks would be catastrophic.
This may help someone, but in general, those who want to work will find a job, in the USA there are no problems with this.
No problems? I doubt it!
Seeing how you're not there to know the stuff from your own experience, where did you get that info?