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 ...
But competition is so unfair! ;-)
“I hate it when FReepers rag on all young people. How are you geezers with your harsh dismissiveness of youth somehow morally superior to young people?”
They, collectively, ARE NOT. It was up to that generation, my generation, to keep this country STRAIGHT AND MORAL. But we have SIMPLY FAILED. Every time you see some flaming Leftist radical in her 20s, remember, most likely, she had 2 parents, and they simply did not do jack to get her to love the country and RESPECT everyone here (legally, at least). Instead, they sat on their assess, while she went around identifying who she perceived as ‘enemies of the people’, starting with Trump but including anyone with an “R” by their name. But where were her parents, Answer: probably egging her on.
I am hiring summer help and a very nice young lady would like to have one of the jobs. It is too bad that because of where she lives she probably will not be able to get a permit.
“I think it’s because immigrants (legal or not) get the jobs and our kids get the short end.”
Thank you for agreeing with me. It’s not that teens are lazy. It’s that they don’t speak Spanish, and therefore can’t work with the 35 year old Honduran “dreamers” at the local fast food joint.
“but calling Ronald Reagan a RINO is pure heresy.”
HAHA amnesty Ronald Reagan. Pro-outsourcing Ronald Reagan. Factor jobs fled this country under Reagan’s free trade policy that was codified by NAFTA. You Boomers crack me up with the Reagan worship. Trump is already far better than Reagan ever dreamed of.
Please do me a favor. Do the Boomer thing and irresponsibly take a second mortgage out on your home for a Hawaiian vacation so I don’t have to deal with your silly posts.
Shocked at how many adults 45 - 65 y/o are in entry level fast food jobs.
“Looking at that graph, perhaps a large portion of the problem is the greatly increased number of restaurants.”
They responded to MARKET CONDITIONS, back when there was no Obamacare and the minimum wage didn’t even keep up with inflation.
Is it really the fault of restaurants that people flocked there, considering their low-cost food?
The point is, the blaming of Millennials, Boomers, or any other subgroup for the demise of industry and the fundamental soundness (or lack thereof) of our economy and rights is just more of the politics of division the Left is so well known for. (my post at #86 was an illustration that the whining sounds the same from all quarters, which is exactly what the Left wants)
Yeah, the Millennials contributed to it.
So did the “Z”, the Boomers, the Greatest Generation, and so on. (Yes, the “Greatest Generation” did too, voting in FDR and his ilk for four terms who arguably did more long term harm to our economy and freedom than any other President)
I will likely live to see it, but we will reach a point where our economy is going to collapse from the accumulated weight of debt (we borrowed $500 billion dollars in the last three months!) because it can’t go on forever.
There is going to be plenty of blame to throw around.
“BTW, at eleven I had a paper route AND I was pulling weeds for a landscaping company. At twelve, I became a member of the crew — complete with my own designated lawn mower. My thirteenth summer I worked full time mowing lawns and bought myself a dirt bike. At fifteen I worked in a Chevron gas station. At sixteen I made money playing in a rock band. At eighteen I became a SCUBA instructor. “
All good and fine, pal, but when I was 23, I had 10 years of practice behind me, and NO ONE could beat me at the Game of Thrones. I won every ‘encounter’. So maybe you were doing grunt-work, the type of work that Deplorables do, but I was PERFECTING my skills, in my basement, and I was the baddest.
LOL!
The problem is that, when this goes beyond humor, we engage in what the Left does, lumping everyone into a group and treating them as a monolithic entity.
Just like there were men who served heroically in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam, there were many who shied from service, served dishonorably, or actively combated the government.
Today, just as there are Millennials who are lazy, voting for Hillary, or marching with Black Lives Matter, there are also Millennials serving in the military who are neither lazy slackers nor cowards.
As outlandish as some of the behavior I see attributed to millennials, it is well to keep in mind...we are the ideology of individuals (not collectives) and it is what each individual does that is important, not what group they belong to.
I think we all know this, but we need to say it sometimes.
“Next time you drive through a fast food restaurant and you see a 40 year old Central American with gold teeth and tattoos serving you, give yourself a big pat on the back. You did it. You wrecked the country because you were too greedy, and too selfish to take a stand.”
Oh shit, that is the MOST POWERFUL post I’ve ever seen here, and what makes it powerful is that it HITS THE MARK, dead on.
“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“
Candidate for winner of the Internet today. I’m sure that the vast majority of FR readers and posters taught their children well and that passed on to their grandchildren.
A lot of people don’t post on or read FR.
And to add, two jobs that I had in HS 40+ years ago would probaby cause the owners of the company to be jailed, their insurance to be cancelled, and possibly my parents to lose custody of me today. But I learned a lot, and I still have all major and minor extremeties,
There simply are not the # or quality of jobs available for HS students today, and part of the problem is regulation.
Is that you David Hogg? Welcome to Free Republic!
Both my daughters worked at the McDs in town last year during summer break. Just because they didn’t cause trouble and did what needed to be done they quickly got on the managements good side. Lot of the other workers were just lazy, didn’t care if they did a good job, or were drama queens - per the girls.
Youngest just got off from college and walked in to the store and before she could ask the manager with, per my daughter, ‘a sparkle in her eye’ said she could start today if she wanted to come back.
This has more to do with work ethic than just about anything else.
However - it also has to do with $. Her boyfriend just started at a place near his apt part time at about 1 1/2 times what fast food pays, and has already been promoted and asked to work more hours then he can while still going to school.
Lack of work ethic/desire to work and minimum wage.
As a member of the boomer generation I wholeheartedly agree with most of your post. I have been saying for more years than I remember that we are the generation that started to ball rolling to where we find ourselves today.
My smart, well-presenting teenagers are all working retail or restaurants where people sit and where they tip.
There's really no reason they would work fast food - that's where the drug addicts work.
Looking at the chart, I saw the Big Dip between 2008 and 2016.
I had a friend in high school back in the 80’s who had a lawn cutting business. He sold it for 18,000 when he went off to college.
A business I have knowledge of in Gaithersburg, MD, called “Country Casual”. Very expensive stuff and EVERY SINGLE one of their workers in the warehouse is Hispanic.
Cheaper? I’d say so.
They don’t like working. They wanna be activists and bitch like that Hogg boy.
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