Jobs Numbers Are Largely Being Powered By Fast Food
Employment numbers have improved as of late. They are very strong numbers, made even better when you consider where they were not that long ago. Even better, consumer confidence seems to be on the rise as well, and this is helping promote an economy that is starting to churn to life once again.
Reporters at CNBC are happy to report these strong numbers, but they would also like everyone to step back and note that many of the jobs that are being gained are fast food jobs. There is nothing particularly wrong with that per se, except for the fact that they are obviously low wage jobs. Most understand that they cannot live off of the wage that they are paid to work in a fast food job.
Companies are feeling the need to hire more workers as the economy continues to kick into high gear. However, they want to remain somewhat cautious in order to avoid overextending themselves. So far, a lot of the job growth has come by way of fast food jobs. This industry is a high turnover industry that needs people to work for them all the time.
CNBC reports that fast food job growth has been an enormous increase of 87% in New York City just in the past year. This dwarfs the numbers that are being seen in most other sectors. It seems that the fast food culture that we live in has not died down in any way. Everyone still loves their quick and easy fast food fix.
Fast food wages are up slightly, but not really when you compare them to the rate of inflation. As it happens, fast food wages are actually down 5.5% when you compare theme against inflation. This means that even those who do work these jobs are now able to buy less with their money than they were previously able to. That can be a cause for concern for a lot of people who are working in these jobs.
Bars and restaurants have also been part of the jobs growth trend, but they tend to face some of the same issues that the fast food service jobs face. Low wages and high turnover rates make this area of work also not the place that most want to be. All in all, some are taking this jobs report as a mixed bag.
