service oriented society

NY is less crowded than I expected, after my arrival, I have not gone to the underground but used my feet and taxis, thus I cannot confirm my experience on the 30th. But for the tourist area -which surprisingly is not the skyscrapers area- sidewalks are hardly crowded. It is the effect of the holiday. Compared to Italy public space is much more service oriented (where in the world would that not apply?), not only there are lots of employee in all shops, but in museums there are people who help you around, direct you to the right cue etc. Is labour so cheap? I remember noticing the same thing in Moscow, for shop assistant and museum employee...