Paychecks and Tips Disappear as Customers Spend Less and Ingredients Prices Rise
By JANET ADAMY
Restaurant jobs, a reliable fallback for many unemployed and immigrant U.S. workers, are shrinking almost as fast as tips left on tables.
The restaurant industry, one of the largest U.S. employers, is experiencing its longest period of job losses on record. Data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that food-service and drinking establishments shed jobs for five consecutive months through November. That’s the biggest stretch since 1990, when the government began tracking such numbers.
Major chains like Starbucks Corp. and Brinker International Inc., parent of Chili’s, are shutting many locations as customers cut back on everything from lattes to Saturday night dinners out. Weak consumer spending and high ingredient prices have pushed many independent restaurants out of business.
A closed Starbucks in Washington, D.C. Restaurant jobs have long been a fallback for immigrants and the unemployed, have declined for five months in a row across the United States.
“It is and will continue to be harder to find employment opportunities within the restaurant industry,” says Hudson Riehle, top researcher for the National Restaurant Association, the industry’s main trade group.
The result is that even experienced servers say they can’t get work, and restaurants are turning away an unprecedented number of applicants. Waiters and waitresses who do have jobs say they’re taking home less money in tips, because patrons are economizing by ordering less food and leaving a lower-percentage gratuity on their checks. Adding to the pressure is the fact that the minimum wage for servers who earn tips in 20 states has been stagnant at $2.13 an hour…
