By Joseph Lawler
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/author/joseph-lawler
Industries that serve people in person are at risk of being left for dead as the pandemic grinds on into the fall.
The situation facing restaurants, bars, gyms, movie theaters, and other such businesses is far more dire than that of the economy as a whole.
Overall unemployment is at 8.4% and trending down — very bad, but not the apocalypse once feared. And some sectors and industries, such as housing and grocery stores, are holding up well or performing during the pandemic.
But places where people gather for fun and recreation are in big trouble. They will be the first to lose business or to be shut down by authorities amid virus outbreaks because time and money spent at those places are thought of as discretionary.
The hospitality and entertainment sectors face the prospect of the pandemic and government restrictions stretching into the fall and winter, depriving them even of the possibility of moving business outdoors.
“Spending on services that typically require people to gather closely, including travel and hospitality, is still quite weak,” Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell noted Wednesday.
At the same time, it’s been months since Congress extended aid.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/restaurants-bars-and-theaters-at-risk-of-being-left-for-dead