Lower the Working Age or Raise the Minimum Wage - How Would You Solve the Fast Food Labor Shortage?

Fast is going higher and higher in price. If you increase pay, more people will be laid off and that $12 burger will be $18. Let's put a lid on having fast food restaurants on every corner. It makes us fatter and gives us heart disease. No raises and no lower the age limit, just quit building fast food restaurants on every corner. It kills more people than cigarettes and vaping and the liberals in California banned both.

Meanwhile, in some states, restaurant workers are forced to pay the National Restaurant Association (an owner group) for ServeSafe certifications...and then the Association uses those registration fees to lobby for lower pay for workers.

The pure greed of (many) restaurant owners is abhorrent. They really don't want to pay.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/17/us/politics/restaurant-workers-wages-lobbying.html

How Restaurant Workers Help Pay for Lobbying to Keep Their Wages Low

The National Restaurant Association uses mandatory $15 food-safety classes to turn waiters and cook...

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/17/us/politics/restaurant-workers-wages-lobbying.html

Raise minimum wage BUT also allow an increase of hours on weekends and holidays for students and keep minimal number of hours during the school week. 

Funny how no one mentions the millions of people trying to get into this country to get a job like these.

Neither are a good solution 

shooting ourselves in the foot - as it is how many can afford the current $10 fast food and $25 - 50 avg check eating out? 

temp non-immigrant non-convertible (no exceptions) guest worker visas are the solution - 3+3 years capped

Raise the minimum wage.

Lower the Working Age or Raise the Minimum Wage - How Would You Solve the Fast Food Labor Shortage?  Only in America would you believe a solution to this issue is to put children in the work place.  We don't need no stinkin education!  We're 'Mericans.  Forcing corporate America to pay people is unpatriotic!  We should all be working for free because rich people NEED more money.  Shut up!  If you cannot regulate industry, then you cannot regulate industry.  You don't lower the working age to accommodate business, are you out of your minds?  Who cares if they close their doors?  Not me!  I live in a very small town - 5,000 people - every time a restaurant closes in a couple months another one opens.  People RUSH to fill a gap.  Our McDonalds pays $17 an hour and it is busy literally 24/7.  Don't cry the blues to me corporate scum!

Here's a thought, lower the cost of housing, food, and fuel so that people can live on the wages that are available now.  We're returning to the neo-industial age labor market where workers were treated like cattle. Having younger kids join the workforce would just take us one step closer to that.

The only reason restaurant workers receive such low pay is extortion. They have effectively paid legislators for this carve out. Folks this is what they call lobbying.

McMoney, duh! The minimum wage should be a living wage. Nobody knows what situations others are in. Could be someone's first job, could be a recently single parent with children, recently "widow/widower".  People should be able to live.

Fair wages for younger employees may help to keep them out of trouble and off the streets.

This is a societal issue that is kind of unique in our country when compared to peer democracies.

I recall an interview with McDonalds workers in, as I recall, Denmark. They were all adults and several were raising families with their earnings from working at McDonalds and could not believe the equivalent wages paid to US workers. Their product did look much better prepared and kind of looked liked the picture instead of the mashed up facsimile I have received from McDnalads.

Most peer democracies have a safety net for their lower income workers, allowing them to live, thrive and survive even when working low paying jobs. In our Country, are poorest or least able are left to fend for themselves because somehow we feel every individual has to earn their right to exist and our society has no obligation to help them find the opportunities they need to do so on their own.

We can't fix that immediately but we can help. Raise the minimum wage, there is no need to abuse our youth even it they want to work for a minimal wage. 

Fast food establishments have equipment that can cause serious injury if misused or if broken—hot grills, broilers, ovens, fryers, slicers and more. There are also issues with wet floors from cleaning or spills.

While many teens are generally responsible, there are others who lack the maturity to follow rules that ensure safe work spaces. Many states have rules that prevent younger workers from operating equipment where safety is critical. There are also rules in place that limit the hours that minors may work, and they are even more restrictive during school terms.

I would rather see wages be raised than ages be lowered. The current minimum wage has been effect for decades, and has not been adjusted for the rising costs of living. There is no one that can afford to live on one job at the current minimum wage. It needs to be raised, and probably to higher than $15/hr given the inflated prices of late.

Restaurant wages also need to be adjusted. $2.13/hr plus tips is manageable for some, but not for all. Although the labor laws state that  employers must pay minimum wage if tips don't make up the difference between it and $2.13/hr; there are some employers who don't; some illegaly withhold tip money, or don't pay minimum wage for non-tipped work, or otherwise take advantage of their workers.

no! child labor is not the answer!!!

raise the minimum wage to a living wage and tax the wealthy, and corporations.

capitalism is a cruel exploitive system, don't allow it to ravage the youth. make education free, provide housing, and healthcare for all, and raise the minimum wage to a living wage, and watch our lives improve along with the country.

Raise the minimum wage. It's good for everyone. Hurt the billionaires. That's good for everyone too.

Lower the Working Age or Raise the Minimum Wage? How about immigrants and citizenship for DACA and raise the wage in stead of lowering the age when children need to get educated.

We cannot continue to think that people can live on $7.25 an hour. This is blatant exploition of people in order to maintain corporate profits. And hey, if you are super anti minimum wage increase then use the Swedish model and have every working sector be covered under a union who negotiates the wage, like what California just brought in. 

How about we start with looking at executive pay for these companies, and then their tax burdens? 

I'm sure we can find money there to pay workers for their valuable time and effort.

No one who works a full-time job should be without a place to live or adequate food. 

Child labor is not the answer. Some people look back at their first job romantically and remember how much they learned. However, child laborers are often children from low-income families, and their earnings help support the family. The burden of supporting a family at a young age can be emotionally, socially, and educationally devastating to a young person. You can see this tendency throughout countries where child labor laws are relaxed. 

We must change our priorities from fast food and low wages to good food and wages that allow people to live with dignity. 

I stand firm on all child labor laws.  Raise the minimum wages and allow children to be children.  There are other ways to earn a little cash that are legal with a little ingenuity such as lawn mowing, snow shoveling, weeding a garden, babysitting whether it be children or pets, homemade crafts, lemonade stands which a lot of communities demand a permit and sales taxes, while volunteer work will open doors too. When I was young, if I did my chores, I received an allowance so I could learn how to manage my funds and buy and save on my own terms.  Education of our youth is a vital necessity in this world, no sense in turning them into puppets which will be abused over time if for nothing more than greed. We have enough puppets in Congress.