1 In 5 Boston-Area Workers Vulnerable In Coronavirus Downturn

BOSTON— Nearly one in five workers in the Boston metropolitan area work in the restaurant, entertainment and other industries already hard-hit by the economic downturn resulting from the new coronavirus, according to data from Bureau of Labor Statistics.

While metropolitan areas that rely heavily on tourism are expected to fare worst in a likely recession, eastern Massachusetts and southeastern New Hampshire are also vulnerable. And while economists expect the biggest job losses to be in the restaurant, transportation, employment services and mining sectors, the ripple effect of reduced spending and supply-side backups will hit almost every corner of the region's economy.

So far, restaurants and bars have suffered the most after state authorities ordered them closed amid in the pandemic. The National Restaurant Association said Thursday the industry could lose as much as $225 billion and eliminate as many as 7 million jobs over the next three months.

On Wednesday, the association wrote to President Trump and Congressional leaders asking for assistance, including creation of a $145 billion restaurant and food service industry recovery fund, a disaster relief fund and help getting restaurant mortgage and lease payments deferred.

"The Massachusetts restaurant industry tends to trend proportionally to national trends, so I think those projections would be a good start for Massachusetts," said Stephen Clark, vice president of government affairs for the Massachusetts Restaurant Association. "The short-term impact is devastating, but we know that our industry is resilient and will come back on the other side of this."

Clark added that the number of people directly employed by the restaurant industry doesn’t include all of the vendors that support it.

"The entire ecosystem is on pause right now," he said.

In Massachusetts, bars and restaurants are the second-largest employer in the metropolitan area, accounting for more than 197,000 employees, or 7.4 percent of the regional total, according to an Associated Press analysis of BLS data. Together they earned more than $1.2 billion in the first quarter of 2019, about 2.5 percent of total wages in the entire region.

Those 197,000 employees account for the biggest percentage of the nearly 399,000 employees in the five industries Moody's Chief Economist Mark Zandi said will be hurt most by COVID-19. Those industries include transportation, hospitality, mining, employment services and travel. All together, workers in those industries hold 19.1 percent of all jobs and 7.1 percent of total wages in the region.

By comparison, 42.5 percent of the workforce in the Midland, TX work in industries at high-risk from COVID-19, which Zandi said is higher than any other metro area. At the bottom of the list is Madera, CA, where just 9.1 percent of jobs are in industries at high risk. Nationally, Zandi said, 16.5 percent of jobs are in industries at high risk from the coronavirus economic downturn.

Other industries that could be hard hit include:

• Performing arts and spectator sports, with 9,100 employees in the metropolitan area who earn, on average, $107,000.
• Museums, historical sites, zoos, and parks, with 3,900 employees who earn, on average, $44,000.
• Amusements, gambling, and recreation, with 28,000 employees and an average annual salary of $24,000.
• Hotels, with 25,000 employees and an average annual salary of $44,000.