Number of waiters in Manhattan

To follow up on a tricky chat reference question this week, I've been searching databases trying to find an article that happens to mention the number of waiters working here in Manhattan. Nothing has been looking terribly promising so far. If you have any recommendations for sources to consult, please add a comment to this blog post or contact me directly.

Thanks.

UPDATE 9/28/06: I am amazed by how quickly my colleagues here responded and how helpful they were. Thanks to Rita, Diane, Sandy, and David for providing the following suggestions:

• Contact the Waiters Association
• Check the web site of the New York State Restaurant Association (here's the best link on their site that I found) and consider contacting them directly
• Look at data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (this is the best page I found)

None of the resources I was able to find specifically indicated how many waitpersons are in Manhattan alone. The data I found either gave me the number in the NY metro area (from the BLS) or the number of all people (chefs, waiters, busboys, etc.) employed in NYC by the restaurant industry (NY State Restaurant Association). I recommended to the patron that he contact the two associations to see if they had the more specific data he needed.