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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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Madness takes its toll.
(Score: 2) by Mykl on Friday July 20 2018, @12:45AM
The biggest problem with the race to the bottom so preferred by our local libertarians here is that it's self-defeating.
If a big chunk of the population is not being paid a living wage, then they can't go out and spend money on small luxuries like fast food. By controlling their costs, these companies are damaging their potential revenue.
I remember as a teenager when going out for fast food and a movie cost me about 1.5 hours of my minimum wage supermarket job. Unsurprisingly, I did a lot of that (as well as purchasing music, video games etc), boosting the revenue of these places and helping them stay in business.