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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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(Score: 3, Interesting) by sjames on Thursday July 19 2018, @05:30PM (1 child)
Apparently not. TFA talked about places unable to hire enough employees of any age. If teens were just being out-competed for the jobs, the owners wouldn't be crying about having to actually work in their own shops.
The problem is they're used to paying next to nothing and treating teens like sub-humans in those places. The pay and working conditions are so bad that they now can't hire anybody at all.
It looks like even to hire teens again, they need non-insulting pay and non-insulting managers.
All of that is coupled with a proliferation of fast food restaurants. That too stretches the supply of teen workers thin. They might have to resort to a living wage and civil managers to fill the gap.
As for the cries of poor work ethic, pay peanuts, get monkeys. That and in our now lukewarm economy, it's a lot easier to find a new job that pays as little as the law allows. If you want employees to think twice, pay better.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by mcgrew on Thursday July 19 2018, @06:34PM
If you can't find workers you're simply not offering enough in pay and benefits. If you can't afford to pay more, you suck as a business[erson and should get a real job.
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