The coronavirus pandemic has caused yet another shortage in the United States. This time, it involves restaurant employees.
Labor statistics reveal approximately 5 percent of the restaurant industry’s workforce walked away from their jobs each month this year. The phenomenon peaked in May, when 706,000
employees called it quits, data reveals. The mass exodus has resulted in 1.2 million open positions at U.S. restaurants — just as more Americans are starting to dine out again.
The employee deficit has forced countless restaurant owners to adjust their hours to accommodate their skeleton crews. Among them is Laurie Torres, who owns an eatery in Ohio. “We used to be known as a late-night restaurant; we can’t do that anymore,” she says. “I don’t have the staff and people are exhausted.”
Workers are leaving jobs in restaurants, bars and hotels at the highest rate in decades. The industry has 1.2 million unfilled jobs, and half of those who've quit say they'll never go back, complaining of high stress, no benefits and aggressive customers. https://t.co/YJRXzSSdwp
— NPR (@NPR) July 21, 2021
What about the pandemic that has caused so many restaurant workers to quit?
