The service sector is going down in flames right now. Hotels, restaurants, OTAs, Air companies, cruise industry, gyms, theaters, bars….everybody is going down. Take a look at Expedia (EXPE) and Booking Holdings stocks. Just one month ago a single Expedia stock was priced at $121 and Booking (BKNG) was at $1976, almost $2000. Today, Booking stocks are at $1386 with pre-market price at $1256.20 which is another free fall day (-8.19%) in sight. Expedia stock is down at $50-ish at the moment.

Coronavirus Is Causing Industry-Wide Layoffs In D.C., Hitting Service Workers Particularly Hard | DCist https://t.co/vkHPK7A51Z — LIVlifelikePACH (@livpach25) March 18, 2020

And if you do not own stocks and your biggest concern is your current job you have all the right to be worried. Because according to Steve Mnuchin, if Republican senators don’t pass a stimulus bill we’re looking at unemployment at 20%, best case scenario. During the previous economic crisis (2008) unemployment peaked at 10.2% in October 2009. The report from U.S. Travel association said that travel-related employment losses alone will push the unemployment rate up to 6.3% over the next few months and the US economy is projected to lose 4.6 million jobs as a result of travel declines in 2020.

We received a mass layoff number late last night to give to our employees. I would contact your employer to get the number. — Diana Hodge (@blonder1) March 18, 2020

According to Star Tribune, Minnesota officials said Tuesday afternoon that more than 31,000 people had applied for unemployment insurance over the past two days. That is more than 15K per day. According to Aaron Blake from The Washington Post, Minnesota is roughly 1/60th of the U.S. population and he added -” If other states had the same rate, it would be 1.8 million.”

Minnesota state unemployment insurance benefits are covered by a $1.5 billion trust fund, which could be stretched thin if significant numbers remain out of work.

More employees will lose their jobs if companies are bailed out than if they are allowed to fail. Under bankruptcy the new owners will run the companies responsibly and efficiently. Bailouts guarantee companies remain uncompetitive, setting them up for future failure and layoffs. — Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) March 18, 2020

In New Jersey, 15,000 people applied for unemployment benefits on Monday, a twelvefold increase over normal levels.

Officials with the Connecticut Department of Labor said nearly 8,000 applied over the weekend.

According to Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development Alaska is expecting a substantial increase of individuals filing for Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits as a result of recent business reductions and closures due to COVID-19.

During the past 72 hours, unemployment websites crashed in Kentucky, Oregon, Michigan and New York.