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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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squatcho, n.:
The button at the top of a baseball cap.
-- "Sniglets", Rich Hall & Friends
(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.