I can remember working at the age of sixteen at my very first job, Dairy Queen.
It was a way to earn money while attending high school as well as
gaining valuable work experience, so I thought. I was young, still living home with my
parents so at the time I was able to accept and work for such low wages. I would work a few hours after school and long
hours over the weekend often neglecting homework and other responsibilities. Unfortunately most of the customers were rude;
I was often disrespected and looked down upon standing behind the counter. Because I was under-appreciated by my managers
and the customers, Dairy Queen was my first and last fast food job.About one third of the nations fast food workers are under the age of twenty according to the book, Fast Food Nation. The fast food industry is mostly dominated by teenagers and has the biggest group of low-wage workers in the United States. About 3.5 million people work in fast food compared to 1 million migrant farm workers. The fast food industry seeks to hire part-time, unskilled workers willing to accept low work wages which teenagers fit the bill perfectly.
The big fast food corporations get tax credits worth up to $2400 for each new low-income worker they hire. When in turn, these employees receive little training, no benefits or only stay with the company for a few months. A study conducted in 1996 showed that these workers would have been hired anyways, so what is the purpose of the Work Opportunity Tax Credit? Is this another incentive to continue paying low-wages? According to a 1997 survey, the average corporate executive bonus was 131,000 up 20 percent when the real value of the minimum was still 27 percent lower than the 1960’s.
I'm glad you posted this information, I wasn't aware of the percent of teenagers working in fast food, or the work opportunity tax credit. I saw a women on Colbert that was pushing for $15/hour in fast food. I think "low-income" status shouldn't be applied to teenagers. Maybe $15 an hour for people above a certain age, say 25 or something. But if you did that, fast food companies would keep 95% of their staff under 25.
ReplyDeleteI think $15/hr is a bit much considering these workers require little to no training, are mostly teenagers and unskilled. I always thought if they pay fast food worker $15/hr what are they going to pay me with a BBA? A persons pay should not be based on industry they work in but should be based on the knowledge and skills that worker has to offer!
DeleteAnita, I agree 100% with what you just said! I do not believe it is reasonable to pay fast-food workers $15 and hour for what they do (and I worked in the food industry!). I was surprised, however, to find out that the people pushing for the raise and union contract were fired on the spot. That seemed a bit harsh to me. I guess that's how this world works though. People willing to work at McDonald's are a dime a dozen and that ever-growing powerful clown knows it! ;)
DeleteI really like your work opportunity tax credit credit link. The information on this page is very interesting along with your post.
ReplyDeleteI worked for McDonald's when I was in high school and, like yourself, found it to be my last food service job. The amount I was disrespected and the amount of work I had to do was not worth the pay. Excellent post.
ReplyDeleteI knew that teenagers were the predominant workers in the fast food industry, but I had no idea how high the rate was! I honestly disagree completely with how they run this type of business. As a marketing major, we are taught that the first impression starts from the person taking your order. If they give off a bad impression it might drive customers to take their business somewhere else. Interesting facts!
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this section of our book, I was so surprised by the underpaid employees. It is ridiculous that business owners have to rip people off to make more money for themselves.
ReplyDeleteI am reading the same book...I couldn't agree more with you about this post!! I completely had the same reaction while reading the end of the book. It's so pathetic on how companies/employers can under pay their employes for all the work they do.
ReplyDeleteI can believe that it's mostly teens working at fast food jobs. A lot of my friends worked at fast food when i was in high school.
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