No appetite for restaurant jobs

Americans are rushing back to restaurants after staying away during the pandemic. To catch that demand, chains are opening thousands of new locations. It has the makings of a boom, except for one glaring problem: There aren’t enough workers.

The majority of restaurant workers are millennials and Gen Zers, the National Restaurant Association says. This demographic also makes up a significant chunk of the more than 2 million people still missing from the labor force, according to new Bank of America research, leaving restaurants desperate for cooks, cashiers and servers.

Even before the pandemic, many restaurants found it hard to hire. Pay is usually low and roles can be taxing, with staff on their feet, working in hot kitchens and dealing directly with the public.

“People don’t really want those jobs anymore,” said Lightcast senior economist Rucha Vankudre. “Given how much choice there is in the market right now, people are kind of moving away” from restaurants.

Now, the industry has been forced into an unprecedented growth spurt and must claw back the millions of jobs that were lost in 2020. Food and beverage outlets are projected to have the largest employment jump of any industry through 2031.

“Despite the really strong gains in the labor market, leisure and hospitality continues to be the sector where you haven’t seen the full recovery,” said Anna Zhou, an economist at Bank of America Institute. “They continue to struggle to fill every opening.”