Consider This from NPR - Food Service Workers Are Quitting At Record Rates. Why? Because They Can

Episode Date: July 26, 2021

Food service workers in America have newfound bargaining power, and they're using it — quitting jobs for better ones at record rates. NPR's Alina Selyukh reports on why some are leaving the restaurant industry for good. Additional reporting this episode from NPR's Andrea Hsu, who examined the pros and cons of one-time hiring bonuses for workers. Follow more coverage from NPR's special series, Where Are The Workers? In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

It's a simple question with a complicated answer. Where are the workers? Well, you know, guess what? Employers can't find workers. I said, yeah, pay them more. In the last few months, some people, including President Biden, have suggested that the worker shortage facing the U.S. amounts to a kind of labor strike. This is an employee's bargaining chip now. There are millions of jobs available, but many of them are hard, low-paying service industry jobs that don't come with good benefits. I mean, why would people rush to a job like that? I talked with one woman who had been a shift supervisor at Starbucks. She's 28. She has a young daughter.

Irina Ivanova is a reporter for CBS Money Watch. She told me that, you know, the pandemic just made her, you know, preparing for the worst every time she went to work. You know, she described this store that was understaffed having to sort of fight with customers all the time about the mask issue. And she didn't feel like her managers were supporting her. She didn't have a sense that it would get better. So she made the decision in June to leave, not having another job lined up. And this is what's new in the pandemic economy.

It's not just about people who might be reluctant to get back to work. It's about people changing jobs and quitting jobs they don't like at record rates, especially in the food services industry. Why? Because they can. Because it means that wages will go up. It means that people are confident enough that they can find a new job that they're quitting.

And we do see that in the numbers. There's been a lot of wage growth in the industry. That said, you know, it's still a very low-paying field. Consider this. Low-wage workers in America suddenly find themselves with some new bargaining power, and more and more of them are using it. From NPR, I'm Elsa Chang. It's Monday, July 26th. This message comes from NPR sponsor, Nature Valley Granola Bars. Having a busy day?

Nature Valley invites you to take a minute to re-energize with the sounds of nature. Starting with this walk through the forest. For more, visit TakeInTheOutdoors.com Good question. That's a really good question. It's a great question. This is free therapy. Thank you for asking me that. God, that's such a good question. That's an interesting question.

But what Fresh Air interviews are really about are the interesting answers. Listen and subscribe to Fresh Air from WHYY and NPR. It's Consider This from NPR. As of July 3rd, about 12.5 million people were receiving some form of jobless aid. That was a drop of more than a million from the previous week, which reflects both an improving job market and the early termination of pandemic benefits in some states. Can I get a cocorita?

It has still not been enough to help restaurant owner Kevin Hartigan. I don't think we've had someone come in and apply for a kitchen job since maybe March. Hartigan owns the Last Steep Bar and grill in Crested Butte, Colorado. And this time of year, the town is full of tourists and second homeowners, but Hartigan is so short on staff, he has to close the place down two days a week. Staffing is so hard because there's no place for him to live. There's just not housing. About half of the restaurants in his town are now closed several days per week or closed altogether. And this is peak season when Hartigan estimates his

restaurant makes 30 to 40 percent of its annual revenue over a few summer months. Financially, it's a huge hit. Restaurant owners across the country are feeling this right now. Last week, during a CNN town hall on the economy, President Biden spoke to one of them. Straight to the audience for questions. This is John Lanny. He is the owner and co-founder of a restaurant group with 39 restaurants across the country, Mr. President. He is a Republican.

The restaurant owner asked the president, how would you persuade people to apply for food service jobs? Hiring is our top priority right now. Well, two things. One, if you notice, we kept you open. Biden said the government had already done a lot to help restaurants during the pandemic. He acknowledged the realities of the job market right now. People deciding now that they have opportunities to do other things and there is a shortage of employees. People are looking to make more money and to bargain. And then in a pretty interesting moment, Biden basically said, yeah, a large number of low wage workers have more power now and business owners are just going to have to deal with that. And so I think your business and the tourist

business is really going to be in a bind for a little while. How long is a little while? Well, we don't know quite yet. What we do know is that while some workers are moving to other jobs in the food service industry, others are leaving it for good. NPR's Alina Selyuk reports. A wooden spoon gliding over cast iron. Lamar Cornett was barely tall enough to see over the stove, watching his mother, a cook, make his favorite dish, scrambled eggs, a classic beginning of a lifelong journey in food. One of my favorite things in the entire world, one of the few things that makes me feel genuinely like great is making food for my friends and like seeing them eat it, enjoy it.

Gornett has worked in restaurants in Kentucky over 20 years. Short of owning one, he's done it all. Server, dishwasher, prep cook, line cook, kitchen manager. The work is grueling and tense, but rewarding and rowdy and so fast-paced that the pandemic shutdown was like lightning on a cloudy day. It was almost like there was this unplanned, unorganized general strike. Out on unemployment for a few weeks, Cornett made enough money through benefits to start saving for the first time. And he had a moment to ponder the realities of his work.

I genuinely can't remember a single break that I've ever taken that lasted longer than the time it takes to use the bathroom or smoke a cigarette. I've never sat down to eat a meal. I've never had health insurance. I was working what I decided was going to be my last kitchen job. In fact, workers are leaving jobs in restaurants, bars and hotels at a highest rate in decades. Each month so far this year, around 5 percent of this massive workforce have called it quits. That's left over a million jobs unfilled in the industry, right when customers are crushing through the doors, ready to eat, drink, and finally socialize.

We used to be known as a late-night restaurant, so we'd be open from 11.30 in the morning to 11.30 at night. We can't do that anymore. I can't. I don't have the staff, and people are exhausted. Lori Torres owns Mallorca Restaurant in Cleveland, which she's now closing on Mondays and shut down for the 4th of July for the first time in 25 years. She says she's been paying her staff bonuses and even offered $17 an hour for a dishwasher job, and still three people stood her up. In one recent survey, more than half of hospitality workers have quit, said no amount of pay would get them to return. That's because for many, leaving food service also had a lot to do with its culture. Aggressive bosses, no benefits, constantly changing schedules, and so many rude customers. It's like they're just yelling the entire time.

Marker's brethren spent two years at Dunkin' Donuts in Rhode Island. In busiest hours, he's seen drive-thru customers storm inside to complain about the wrong amount of creamer or sugar. Brother-in's left this spring for a job delivering beverages to restaurants, work that's tough but quieter and better paying. Oh, I am done with fast food. Like, I never want to do something like this again. Trying to overcome this attitude and racing to staff backup, companies are trying things like recruiting on TikTok or paying people just to show up for interviews. Major chains have also been trumpeting higher wages. Chipotle is raising its minimum to average $15 an hour.

McDonald's is also promising entry level pay between $11 and $15 an hour. McDonald's is also promising entry-level pay between $11 and $17 an hour. In fact, for the first time on record, average hourly pay for non-managers at restaurants and bars topped $15 in May. Jeanette Wexlim is a labor economist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. This is an industry that's been plagued with low wages for an extraordinary long period of time. Pay barely began to rise before the pandemic, then fell again. So she says now workers are just making up lost ground. Wages might be jumping fast, but not that far. Lamar Cornett, the lifelong restaurant worker from Kentucky, has watched the wage issue get tense on his local food service Facebook group. Any job posting below $15 an hour gets jeers and demands for higher wages.

Then the employers get defensive. They would always be like, oh, well, we can't afford to pay people that much. The immediate response every time was, then you can't afford to be in business, bro. Cornett was planning to hang up his apron and looking at jobs at warehouses and factories. When he got an offer he couldn't turn down from someone who could afford to be in business and pay him better. He's now a chef at a new brewery. Currently, I'm making the most money I've ever made, and I make $30,000 a year, which isn't a lot. But when you've spent your whole life making $22,000, $23,000 a year, which isn't a lot. But when you've spent your whole life making $22,000, $23,000 a year,

you know, that's some life changing. It's actually the first time he's ever had a salary, steady money he can count on week to week. The first time he's had only one boss whom he likes. And finally, health insurance. That was NPR's Alina Selyuk. One more note here about the labor market. Maybe you've heard about a lot of businesses, especially restaurants, offering one-time signing bonuses for new workers. Amazon and Disney are offering them too. But labor experts say those bonuses, which can be around $1,000, can look better than they actually are. It's a one-time cost.

Anne-Elizabeth Conkle, an economist with Indeed Hiring Lab, says a bonus means employers are not stuck paying a higher wage week after week, year after year. Also, it's flexible. Once they get enough staff, they can drop the hiring incentive if they choose. Well, what would be better for workers? Negotiating for a higher pay? David Madlen with the Center for American Progress says that's not something low-wage workers can typically do with employers. They don't want to set a precedent because then they might have to raise wages for the next person who comes along in the job or the people who are already in the job. But in this job market, some employers might be more open to negotiation than they ever have in the past. The reporting you heard in this episode comes from a special series of NPR stories recalling

where are the workers? A link to more of those stories is in our episode notes and stay tuned for more of them here on the podcast in the future. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Elsa Chang.