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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: 2) by Reziac on Friday July 20 2018, @01:40PM
Bingo. People replying here are thinking like upperclass, not like working class. I see lots and lots of idle teens who are economically lower-class, and largely hanging around the very fast food joints that are begging for employees . Why are these teens not out there hustling for jobs that clearly are right underfoot? Transportation obviously is not the issue; they're already on the spot.
A: between mama's basement and mama's welfare payments, they don't need to, and besides they can make more money growing and selling pot.
And most of the middle-class kids now have fantasies about getting rich after they get their PhD in Useless Studies (which will be paid for by student loans, not by savings from summer jobs), and meanwhile wouldn't be caught dead doing blue-collar grunt work, nor would their parents allow such ignominious labor.
In short, way too many teens now think taking a starter job is beneath them, or are into the drug economy and aren't reliable enough anyway. Hell, half the time these kids can't show up for school; what makes you think they'd show up any more often as an employee?
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.