This archive report was first published on 5 June 2020.
Published on June 5, 2020, the U.S. jobs report for May revealed a rebound in employment, with the economy showing signs of recovery.
More than half of the month's job gains, approximately 1.4 million, were in the restaurant and bar industry, many of which received assistance under the government's Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
According to Michelle Meyer, head of U.S. economics at Bank of America, the economy is still being buffered by stimulus, and when that starts to wane, the underlying health of the recovery will be revealed.
Beef 'O' Brady's, a Florida-based chain of sports bars, saw business decline by 62 percent in April due to nationwide dining room closures. However, thanks to nearly all of its franchisees receiving Paycheck Protection loans, only a handful of locations have closed permanently.
As states gradually allow restaurants to reopen, business has begun to pick up, with sales down only 15 percent in the last week of May. However, the longer-run outlook remains uncertain, with many franchisees struggling to eke out a profit and sales still down more than 50 percent at half of the locations.
