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A quarter-century ago, there were 56 teenagers in the labor force for every "limited service" restaurant — that is, the kind where you order at the counter.
Today, there are fewer than half as many, which is a reflection both of teenagers' decreasing work force participation and of the explosive growth in restaurants.
But in an industry where cheap labor is an essential component in providing inexpensive food, a shortage of workers is changing the equation upon which fast-food places have long relied. This can be seen in rising wages, in a growth of incentives, and in the sometimes odd situations that business owners find themselves in.
Too many restaurants, not enough teens to work in them.
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A Fast-Food Problem: Where Have All the Teenagers Gone?
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Does she think we just want to sit around painting debian swirls on our
toenails?
-- Erinn Clark, referring to the Debian-women project
(Score: 2, Insightful) by suburbanitemediocrity on Thursday July 19 2018, @03:36PM (13 children)
Where can't you walk to places?
(Score: 4, Informative) by Snow on Thursday July 19 2018, @04:35PM (7 children)
Pretty much anywhere in Canada or the USA that isn't downtown.
My first job I would have to walk to Burger King sometimes when the buses didn't work out. It would take 30 mins if I hopped a 8' concrete sound barrier (there was a power box beside it I could climb on) and then ran across a 6 lane freeway. Otherwise it would take closer to 50 mins. And that was considered close!
(Score: 4, Informative) by Sulla on Thursday July 19 2018, @04:47PM (1 child)
Sulla's AC friend worked at a McDonalds that required him to walk 1.5 hours each way, and this was in Alaska, and this was in the winter. Currently he works at a job paying much better but still has the same walk. And its not like millennials are unwilling to use non-car transport, where I currently live most of them bike or take the bus because they don't want to own a car. The issue is more of a refusal to work at a fast food place or any place making less than 15/hour because student loans are too high to make it affordable. Hell, even if they did take one of those jobs it is unlikely they will get more than 25 hours a week because 30 is now full time and if you work more than 25 you might accidentally go over 30, so you need to juggle two part time jobs and hope you can negotiate schedules between them just to get full time employment.
I got a degree in Accounting from a University that was about average for instate universities, and my student loan payments are 1k/month. So even with 40 hours and 15/hour you gross 2,400/month and about 2k/month after taxes (under old tax plan). So now you have 1k/month after student loans because you are stuck making 15/hour because you can't find a job because they all want several years of infield experience and you couldn't afford unpaid internships. Average rent in the US in 2016 was 1050/month. I think when a lot of the millennials realize this breakdown they just give up.
What percentage of your monthly income was rent when you first started out? What percent of your income was student loans when you graduated college?
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 20 2018, @04:24AM
I lived at home until 22 and only left after a call was made from my house to my girlfriends about us having sex
bye
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday July 19 2018, @06:54PM
You forgot the good ol' Canadian saying "And it was uphill both ways in a snow storm!"
:)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by suburbanitemediocrity on Thursday July 19 2018, @07:56PM (3 children)
I walked 6 miles to my first job as a courtesy clerk at a grocery for $190/wk (inflation adjusted), even when it was 112F out. A lot of kids did.
https://weather.com/weather/today/l/85042:4:US [weather.com]
(Score: 2) by Snow on Thursday July 19 2018, @08:11PM (2 children)
I miss courtesy clerks. They used to bag your groceries up and put it on a special cart thing and load all that into your car.
Now I have to carry my own groceries.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 19 2018, @08:29PM
Uphill in the Snow both ways?
Wait, this has possibly undesired connotations
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 20 2018, @03:53AM
There is a supermarket called Publix which does that, more or less. The cart is ordinary.
I get in the checkout line. I put my own groceries on a conveyor belt, though I'm sure I'd get help if I asked. An employee runs my groceries over a scanner/scale, passing them to a second employee who places them into bags. Bags are free, and they ask if I want paper or plastic. That second employee then loads the bags back into the cart. Once checkout is done, the second employee offers to go out to my car with me. If I accept, they will push the cart and then load the groceries into my vehicle. They then take the cart back in.
Publix is the dominant supermarket chain in many areas, particularly in Florida.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday July 19 2018, @04:38PM
How much time do you have, and what odds would you accept of not getting there ?
Many suburbs do not have sidewalks along roads where people go 65+. Granted, it's true in Europe too. But people there do expect to regularly have to dodge a pedestrian/cyclist.
(Score: 4, Informative) by pendorbound on Thursday July 19 2018, @04:48PM (2 children)
Most of the US. There are lots of places where apartments with rent you can afford are far enough from the places you can work that you wouldn't be able to walk to work, work your shift, and walk back home in the course of day.
Assuming you'll work an 8 hour shift (good luck finding that...), and would like to have 8 hours of sleep, personal time, etc, you've got a max 4 hour each way commute. Assuming a walking pace of 4 MPH, that means a maximum of 16 miles each way.
The nearest Mc Donalds to me is 13.2 miles. If the route were flat, you'd have almost two hours per day of free time left. Unfortunately it's pretty hilly. Google estimates 8 hours, 12 minutes round trip via Shoe Leather Express. Guess you'll have to get up a little earlier. Sure you could live closer, but move in towards the city, and your rent skyrockets. I'm not sure if there's a sweet spot on that closer in. I expect the closest you can live still leaves you sweaty and disgusting when you get to work (it's been in the 90's during the day most of this month).
There's no bus route between those places. Lyft would cost you about $18 round-trip. That's about 2 hours minimum wage, assuming you throw the driver a $1 tip each way. So you're paying 25% of your gross pre-tax for transportation. And that's assuming you're not getting screwed over with 4-hour shifts.
To survive in the vast majority of the US, access to a reliable car is a necessity.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday July 19 2018, @04:56PM (1 child)
E-bikes might be a solution. In NYC Latinos ride them everywhere. The city is hillier than most people realize. Also, they probably don't have much money to spend on transportation, so the economics of it must work out. The speeds on them are 20-30mph, so that's as fast as cars are supposed to go on local roads.
In short, I think people could use that or other means to get to those jobs, if they wanted to.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 19 2018, @05:45PM
There you go assuming someone did the math. Just because a lot of people do it, doesn't mean there not all losing money on it. I'm not saying they are, but people in general are bad at long term costs, maintenance, and taking account of everything involved. After all people still take loans out to buy new cars to drive into the ground for Uber.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 19 2018, @10:26PM
It depends on where you live.
Where I lived last year? Sidewalks? Haha get real those cost money. Where I grew up? They were everywhere. Where I live now? It is about 80% done in. It just depends on where you live.