Covid did not put the restaurant out of business, the government did. Paying people not to work and telling businesses if you want to hire people pay them more than $15 per hour which is what they are getting in stimulus payments.
So I expect millions of illegal aliens will be available to fill these jobs.
Before, it was mostly due to welfare payouts.
Now it might have added to it the fact businesses are forcing the fax...and also masks...on employees. Maybe lots of candidates don’t want that!
I’ve been self-employed for 20 years. And I believe the minimum wage to be completely anti-business. But the few times I’ve interviewed to the point of getting a wage offer, it has without fail proven to be incredibly less than what I can generate for myself. And what I earn on my own comes devoid of office politics, false promises and general lack of respect for employees.
Three things:
1- We were in Cocoa Beach in July- we have condos there. Most of the signs on the restaurant read, “Closed Tuesday.” We went to one of our favorite restaurants and asked the hostess why the restaurants were closed on Tuesday. Her reply- “People don’t want to work. Its more beneficial for them to stay home and collect covid and unemployment payments rather than get a job. We can’t staff the way we need too.
2- A week later we were in Disney World. They opened up the California Grill for breakfast- a great restaurant on top of the Contemporary with magnificent views. It was near impossible to get a reservation but I was able to pull one off. We get to the restaurant only to find out 60% of the tables are empty. I asked the waiter why is it so difficult to get a reservation with so many empty tables? His response? “We only take reservations based on the amount of waiters we are able to get here to work.”
3- Last week i was in Columbus, Ohio for the Ohio State game. Ny wife and i get to a restaurant called First Watch just off campus around 8:15 for breakfast. Kick-off was noon. There are about ten people in front of us waiting. There were two waiters for the whole restaurant and one was working the cash register. Half the tables were empty and a quarter had dirty dishes on them. We left after 20 minutes. 45 minutes later they sent us a text letting us know our table was ready. Sunday we went to breakfast at a place called Scrambles. Same thing- there was a 15 minute wait despite the fact 60% of the tables were empty.
No one wants to work when they are getting freebies.
They definitely don’t want to work for 10 bucks an hour or is it 2.35 an hour at restaurants. Amazon is paying 18 an hour. Doesn’t appear they are having shortages of workers.
1. some folks may be afraid of catching the damned virus, especially with all the 24/7 scare talk on the mass media
2. mostly, however, the problem is all the give=away welfare from the government ...
paying people to become lazy and unproductive (and dependent upon the commie politicians)
The democrat taliban party and all its voters are the enemy.
Question: I thought the extended unemployment and so-called "stimuless" monies have been stopped? Whatever happened to all the "stimuless" that was suppose to help small business?
I swear, the Biteme bunch couldn't have screwed this more if they planned it. Oh, wait...
They just want to bang on the drum all day.
Most of the stimulus/COVID money has run out now, so that can’t be the whole answer. I hate to say it, but I think the answer goes deeper. People have been free to do as they want for almost two years, and have been exploring hobbies and side hustles... many young people especially have blogs, vlogs, YouTube channels... . I doubt they are making a lot of money, but maybe enough to subsist on while living with their parents, or driving around the country in a van, etc. This could reflect the emergence of a new segment of the economy they we older folks are just not tracking.
I am in Durango, CO today and saw a “WORKERS HIRED NOW FOR ALL POSITIONS” sign on the Post Office. We are screwed.
If they paid a hundred an hour they’d have a full complement of good staff.
Of course then they would charge much higher prices.
These things need to sort themselves out.
Were I a restaurant owner (and we have had restaurants in the family, I know a little bit), if I couldn’t get good hires within a week I’d offer a bit more. Then a bit more. Also inquire of remaining staff if there is anything I can do to make conditions better.
Raise prices accordingly. If you can’t sell enough plates to cover your expenses then you don’t have a good business.
We’re having the same problem here in our little Northern Commiefornia town. I work as a bar back for a popular sports bar three nights a week. The owners recently decided to close on Monday nights (one of my nights of course!) because all the servers and kitchen workers were already working eiyhisix days a week or 12 hour shifts because they can’t find enough people who want to work.
It’s very sad around my town. Nearly all of the fast food restaurants have closed their lobbies and switched to drive-thru only, which creates a death spiral with “help wanted” but declining revenues. Sit-down restaurants are having to close early or completely shut down some days to give their crew a rest.
Not the case in Florida which ended it’s federal $300 way back in May and it’s max benefits is one of the lowest around. So at least in Florida all the extra bennies were cut months and months ago people still don’t want to work even without the Federal money something else is keeping people out of the workforce. I’m betting people realised that quality of life matters and a second income from a low wage service type job is not worth the pittance of money you get from one of those. So people went into a side hustle for cash off books and said nope no more w2 low wage work.
“On May 24, the Department of Economic Opportunity announced that Floridians would stop receiving the $300 per week from the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program more than two months before it is set to expire in September. Starting this week, Robertson and thousands of others will lose the federal benefit, leaving them with the state’s unemployment benefit of $275 per week, one of the lowest unemployment benefit rates in the country.”
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article252316213.html
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People don’t want to work and those in the recruitment pool are not the best
There are lots of $10 and $12 an hour jobs out there that are much more pleasant than restaurant work, and that don’t require education or qualifications. Jobs that are 9-5, jobs that let you sit (if you like that) or be outside (if you like that), jobs that don’t have heat and mess.
The new normal is probably $15-$17/hour in lower wage areas and $20/hour+ in higher wage areas.
And yes, some restaurants simply won’t be able to hack that given their other costs and the prices that their customers will absorb.