More than 27 million Americans – almost 1 in every five members of the U.S. workforce – are part of the service economy, working in health-care, law enforcement, food services, cleaning and personal care occupations. Among counties with more than 10,000 service workers, Bronx County in New York has the highest percentage of front-line employees, with more than one-third of its workforce engaged in service-related occupations. Not coincidentally, the Bronx has been one of the hardest hit counties by the coronavirus pandemic; because of its high rates of diabetes, asthma, and hypertension, its death rate has been estimated to be four times the percentage for the overall New York metro area.

Other counties with a high percentage of its population at risk include Kauai County, Hawaii (30.0 percent); Atlantic County, N.J. (29.1 percent); Maui County, Hawaii (28.7 percent); and Clark County, Nev., where the   Las Vegas mayor has been pleading for state officials to allow it to reopen the gambling and entertainment Mecca’s businesses (28.5 percent). 

Explore the percentage of service economy workers in your region with Social Explorer’s interactive mapping tools here.

Service-Related Occupations Across the United States. Click here to explore further.

Author: Frank Bass