Fast Food, a Low Pay Industry

Fast food industries such as McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, etc. are known to hire inexperience workers and pay minimum wage. This is because most of the employees working for these restaurants are either immigrants or teenagers. Although adults are hired as well, these industries believe that teenagers qualify for the job not only because they are willing to earn a lowest wage but also because they are easier to manage. Most of these workers do not receive no type of benefits and are often scheduled to work 40-to 60 hours a week. In many cases, these employees have to perform the duties of the manager, yet still receive the same salary.


In the book Fast Food Nation written by Eric Schlosser, he mentions in the chapter "Behind the Counter" in page 68 that "Instead of relying upon a small, stable, well-paid, and well trained workforce, the fast food industry seeks out part-time, unskilled workers who are willing to accept low pay. Teenagers have been the perfect candidates for these jobs, not only because they are less expensive to hire than adults, but also because their youthful inexperience makes them easier to control". He makes it very clear for the reader to understand that fast food restaurants are willing to hire people with no experience as long as they save their money by paying the workers minimum wage. For teenagers who don't have any responsibilities and have no experience in any type of job, getting paid minimum wage shouldn't be a problem. This in fact is a way to help young people who never worked before gain some knowledge of what a job consists of and realize they can do much better than stay behind a counter selling hamburgers all day long. The problem is when the managers exploit their employees expecting them to do more work than they are suppose to although they are being paid an insignificant amount of money. There are also adults being hired, most of them are immigrants who left their country to find better opportunities. They feel forced to take any job that comes along since they are illegal and think its impossible to get a well-paying job. Fast food restaurants hire immigrants and teenagers hoping to waste less money and receive more in return.


When I was 16 years old, I decided to start looking for a part-time job so I can work after school. I filled out a few applications and received a call from a clothing store telling me to go for an interview. As soon as i got there, the manager told me I got the job and that I'll be getting paid minimum wage which was $7.25 per hour. That same day two other girls around my age were hired as well. When they asked if we had any type of experience of working in a clothing store, it seemed not to bother them that we didn't because for the three of us that was going to be our first job. They told us our job consisted of providing good costumer service, putting clothes from the fitting room back to where they belong, keeping the store clean, vacuuming the store at the end of the day and sometimes be in charge of the register. As time went by, the managers would make us do much more than what we were hired for and still received the same amount of money. There were times when they would make me do stuff the managers themselves were suppose to do such as count the money and do paper work at the end of the day and I was forced to stay extra time until I finished. Although the place where I worked isn't a fast food restaurant, their hiring techniques pretty much work the same way. I worked there for two years and noticed the managers would only give out applications to young girls after there was some lady in her mid-thirty's working there and asked the managers to raise her salary. She was working full-time and still being paid minimum wage. They knew that if they hired older people, they wouldn't be able to make them do as much work as a young girl would do for only $7.25 an hour.