TL;DR
Fast-food restaurants are struggling to recruit teen staffers due to a downward trend of teens in the labor force. Restaurant operators are citing recruiting and training employees as their top challenge, with 42% of operators affected.
A recent Bizwomen article detailed the downward trend of teens in the labor force. In fact, in the early 1990s, there was a 56:1 ration of fast-food restaurants to teen in the workforce. Since 2010, the number of fast-food jobs has grown twice as fast while teens have shifted their focus away from work forcing 42 percent of restaurant operators across the U.S. citing recruiting and training employees as their top challenge. The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects this trend to continue into 2024.
Reports noted that parents believe earnings are too low to contribute to paying for higher education, so they recommend their teens focus on their education.
The teen shortage has forced fast-food restaurant owners to offer higher wages, higher senior citizens and be more flexible when it comes to scheduling.
In this story
This story was originally published in 1851 Franchise on June 11, 2018. Burnaze summarizes and links to the original reporting.
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