Posted on 05/06/2018 9:13:08 AM PDT by Theoria
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.
This is why Jeffrey Kaplow, for example, spends a lot of time working behind the counter in his Subway restaurant in Lower Manhattan. It’s not what he pictured himself doing, but he simply doesn’t have enough employees.
Mr. Kaplow has tried everything he can think of to find workers, placing Craigslist ads, asking other franchisees for referrals, seeking to hire people from Subways that have closed.
Yet there he was during a recent lunchtime rush, ringing up veggie footlongs and fountain drinks. He feared that if the line grew too long, people might get frustrated and not come back.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
This is the future.
There are a boat load of teens willing to work in fast food. They quit looking for fast food employment when the massive waves of illegal immigrants took them. Now that some of those illegal immigrants raced back home after Trump was elected, now fast food joints need teenagers. It wouldn’t be a problem if those fast food joints had hired teenagers routinely instead of illegal immigrants. They made their own bed.
Good point. A lot of adults have had to settle for fast food jobs, often as a 2nd job, as a result of the Obama economic depression and Obamacare forcing millions of full-time employees onto the ranks of part-time employees, where they could no longer make ends meet on that reduced salary.
Great point you made.
How are you geezers with your harsh dismissiveness of youth
Good chart but you can’t apply that to teen employment. That relates to overall labor participation.
Parents don’t make kids work
Illegals
I think it’s both
Nobody will like this
I live in Franklin TN
We have two McDonalds in close range
One is mostly Hispanic workers
One is mostly black workers
Which one you figure operates best and friendliest
My kids like McDonalds and my Rotts are grateful for dollar menu McDoubles
Yes, and they charge $75 for 20 minutes of mowing unlike the neighbor’s kid.
Hubby took pity on one who said she’d mow our yard. I had to leave for an appointment and paid her. Of course, when I got home, she had left in the middle and was never seen again. Never again. Should be glad my money was all she took off with.
Same thing as in National Parks....I worked when I was 17 in Yellowstone National Park for the summer....now Adults (generally retirees) do the work. Also, other places like the Grand Hotel hire waitstaff from overseas for the summer...THAT’s where all the jobs go.
In the meantime, how many have noticed how fast food prices have been soaring?
The previous chart begins at 16, the age when most states allow teenagers to work full time in all fields (i.e., industry, machinery, etc...). Of course, it can not measure informal work for neighbors, cutting lawns, etc... But its also clear teenagers work much less than they did in the past. Part of the reason is due to more participation in education, part is simply not explained.
Supported by Mom’s check....No need to work.
Based on some recent visits to a few fast food places, people who were teenagers in the 1950’s and 60’s are filling the gap. Unsurprisingly, they’re typically more friendly and efficient than their thumb-up-the-@$$ grand children.
Agree. Going out for fast food used to be cheap...Today, ferrrget it.
I tend to agree — things are a lot worse than when most FReepers were kids… heck, that's true even for the young FReepers!
A lot of people have mentioned childhood lawn-mowing businesses; but how many times have we seen the child's lemonade stand shut down by city officials
story?
A lot of people mention getting jobs as if you can just go outside, turn over a rock, and find a job; but how many jobs and companies have been shipped overseas?
Then there's the scorn for people living with parents (truly odd, considering multigenerational homes were the traditional norm in America), who seem utterly out-of-touch with the costs of housing today.
A lot of the harsh judgments here are operating as if massive regulatory burdens didn't exist, as if massive illegal-immigration weren't an issue, and as if there were no such thing as HR and political correctness.
I can tell you from experience that getting a job in my particular field isn't easy, despite it being STEM and the alleged STEM shortage (in reality it's that employers are trying to get senior-level talent on entry-level pay; combined with the massive H1B fraud used to depress the average wage in the field).
Back in the seventies and before, not only were there abundant teens to work in fast food, but also lots of stay at home moms who would work while their kids were in school.
Don’t need charts and graphs to know that cheap illegal alien labor pushed out teenagers.
“How are you geezers with your harsh dismissiveness of youth somehow morally superior to young people?”
Don’t forget, they’re the lazy good-for-nothing geezers that failed to educate, motivate, train, and mentor those younger people they call slobs.
“How are you geezers with your harsh dismissiveness of youth somehow morally superior to young people?”
P.S. The geezers do the same thing in business. Instead of being the senior managers and executives that are competent and lead the organization, they’re just as lazy and incompetent running corporations as they are raising children.
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