Restaurant workers are quitting at record-high rates, and it could force their employers to raise wa

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

wages, experts say

Restaurant workers quit at record levels in April, and it's another sign that employers are going to have to work harder to attract and retain workers.

The quit rate, which refers to the percentage of people who voluntarily leave their jobs over the period, reached 5.6% in April for the food service and accommodations sector. That number is an all-time high for the industry, according to Gordon Haskett Research Advisors, and it was more than twice the rate of the economy as a whole, not counting farming jobs.

The high quit rate is an "indication that restaurant sector employees are leaving their jobs to pursue higher wage rate opportunities - in both other sectors and other restaurant concepts," the analysts said in a report.

The quit rate is "generally viewed as a measure of an employee's confidence in finding a new job and perception of job availability," Gordon Haskett analysts say, and workers have good reason to feel this confidence. The sector also saw a record high of 1.34 million job openings in April, an increase of 350,000 over March numbers. Total nonfarm openings abound, with a record 9.3 million openings in April, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/restaurant-workers-are-quitting-at-record-high-rates-and-it-could-force-their-employers-to-raise-wages-experts-say/ar-AAKZLTN

[JoeOtterbein]

1. I've worked in the food biz for over 50 years.

We never had enough employees. The businesses, and even some of the non-profits I've worked at, never paid enough.

So the bosses just pushed everyone to work harder.

Now they are seeing what happens when you don't care enough about your employees. They quit. In big numbers.

[stillcool]

2. I worked in the biz for a long time as well...

the grass is always greener, but there are some places where people have to die for there to be an opening. Says a lot if these restaurants have none of their staff returning.

[liberal_mama]

3. My daughter had to drive to 3 Waffle Houses in Ohio today before they could eat

The first two were closed due to not enough staff. I worked jobs like that when I was younger and there was always an evil micro-managing tyrant of a manager who wanted to make everyone's life hell for low wages. I can't blame people for not wanting to work these jobs.

My sister-in-law was complaining that she can't find employees to hire for the group of nursing homes she works for. She says, "No one wants to work with Biden giving them all this money to stay home!" Imagine that, people don't want to change diapers for $7.25 an hour.

[RainCaster]

7. Why change diapers for $7.25 when Amazon pays $15?

It's time to pay a living wage.

[leftyladyfrommo]

4. My Perkins can't go back to 24/7 because there is

no staff.

[SoonerPride]

5. I am willing to pay more so they can raise wages.

I’m perfectly fine with them paying a living wage and increasing the costs for me to eat out.

[happybird]

6. Restaurants will have a harder time staffing if servers are only making minimum wage

I wonder about this study. Not many restaurants were open for full, dine in service in April. Most states were still on 50% capacity or carry-out only restrictions. Wouldn’t the employees have quit during the bleakest part of the pandemic and not when we were finally on the cusp of fully reopening?

Also, the restaurant biz is known for the revolving door. It’s one of the only industries where quitting without notice (or even walking out mid-shift), and rehiring employees who either quit or were previously fired is commonplace. It is pretty common to jump around between different restaurants. Were these industy-typical quittings and movements counted in this study?

I’ve been in the business for 30 years, and still am, and don’t know a single server who wants to go to a no tipping/“livable wage” situation. I think the only ones interested in that are people who work in crappy corporate restaurants where you are limited to 3-4 tables, bad servers who get bad tips because they are bad at their job (there’s a lot of them out there, despite what people think it is not an easy job and looooots are folks just aren’t cut out for it), and those who are not in the business and have no real idea how it works– or how much servers actually make.

I am suspicious of the study. Did some googling and can’t find out much about the company who published it. Who paid for the study, I wonder?


Edited a couple times for clarity and typos/missing words. I’m tired, just got home from work... at a restaurant, lol!

[Wounded Bear]

9. Min wage for tipped workers in most states is only $2.50/hr...

Not surprising they're having trouble finding workers if they're not beating that.

[happybird]

12. I'm saying if they get the server wage upped to min. wage or a few bucks over that

Decent servers make way more than $10-$12/hr when you include tip income for the week.
Here in VA, the server wage is $2.13/hr. You can expect to make $20/hr, and often more that, with tips. An hourly wage without tips would result in less income for professional servers. We do alright with the way things currently work.

[MichMan]

15. Apparently people that don't work as servers think they know what's good for you

[happybird]

16. Yep.

Many people think we don’t pay taxes on tips, either.

If pro-labor folks really want to help restaurant employees, they should be pushing for health insurance benefits and leave the wage/tipping thing alone.

[obamanut2012]

18. Most servers make less than $20/hr

And, even the ones who do, work 10-25 hours a week, no benefits.

[Klaralven]

8. Restaurant workers probably got other gigs that pay better. Tips are probably down as well.

[cojoel]

10. There goes the claim that they can't get workers because of high unemployment benefits

Workers who voluntarily leave their jobs are not eligible for unemployment benefits. So it would be much more likely they are getting jobs that pay better elsewhere.

[MichMan]

11. That always was the case, but that was waived early last year

Its just starting back up again as a requirement

[GulfCoast66]

13. I'm an older Gen Xer. Like the oldest.

One thing I’ve noticed about the younger folks in our workforce is they are good workers. But won’t be shit on and will leave if conditions are not suitable for their lives.

Many in my generation and the boomers older than me consider them lazy because they won’t slave away at a dead end job for years. But it is the opposite.

They realize the companies they work for have no loyalty to them and return the favor. They will find a job or gig or hustle to make what they want.

It is driving the upper leadership in my company crazy. And their solution?

Housekeepers are now starting at $16 an hour. Starting. And we are a Union company with guaranteed wage hikes.

It’s going to cause a stock disruption, but corporations are going to pay a higher percentage of their revenue to labor. Which as been shrinking for 50 years.

[tcslee2020]

17. Millennials have learned from their parents

I agree with a lot of what you say. I think that the younger workers today have seen what the workforce and corporations have done to their Gen-X or Boomer parents. No more pensions. No more loyalty.

The only part I disagree with you on is that the young generation are good workers. Fast food or mall workers completely suck. The workers I've had work for me in IT suck and are completely entitled. I get it, they hate the companies they work for and feel that they are not treated right; but it does lead them to suck as employees. Obviously there are exceptions, but a lot of them suck.

[obamanut2012]

19. All of my Z and younger Millenials are excellent workers

And always willing to help colleagues. I am an old GenXer, and they are a zillion times less entitled than the supermajority of my Boomer staff.

[smirkymonkey]

20. Housekeepers here in Boston are making about $50-$60 an hour.

I have someone come in to clean my studio about once a month or so, they stay about 2 hours and charge $120, plus I tip them 20% on top of that. A lot of these people don't work for an agency either. They are freelancers.

That's pretty good money for someone who doesn't really have any special training and sometimes doesn't even speak the language.

[smirkymonkey]

14. Good. It's about time that workers finally have employers over a barrel.

Greedy mofos. I hope that this new situation will finally give workers the upper hand in negotiating for better wages and benefits.