Following the passage of stimulus packages with aid for workers like expanded unemployment benefits, politicians and business owners have wrung their hands over a supposed worker shortage as people refuse to return to work, as they say. A new report pushes back on that narrative and shows that actually, it’s more likely low wages offered by businesses that are causing workers to want to quit.
The report by One Fair Wage finds that 53 percent of restaurant workers have considered leaving their jobs during the pandemic, and 76 percent of restaurant workers cite low wages and tips as the reason for leaving the industry. Being paid a low wage was the most common reason for leaving by far; COVID-19 concerns were the next highest reason, with 55 percent of workers saying they were concerned about pandemic safety.
The survey of over 2,800 food service workers also found that, overwhelmingly, a “full, stable, livable wage,” would compel workers to stay at their jobs; 78 percent of respondents said as such. This was the top reason for workers to stay by nearly 30 percentage points. The next top reason — at 49 percent — was if they received paid sick leave.
The pandemic has made conditions for restaurant workers worse, the survey finds. The vast majority of workers (87 percent of respondents) said tips have decreased during the pandemic, and 80 percent of respondents said they have witnessed customers being hostile toward their co-workers over COVID-19 guidelines.
Conditions have been particularly tough for women, especially women of color and mothers. Working mothers face a double whammy, often bearing most of the responsibility for taking care of children while making lower wages.
A report from One Fair Wage from March found that women are not only more likely to be tipped less but are also more likely to face harassment on the job. Along with the pandemic, relying on tips has created, in some cases, hostile conditions for female tipped workers.
Wednesday’s report shows that low pay across the industry could be responsible for why nearly 40 percent of restaurant companies are having trouble finding workers.
“The shortage of restaurant workers we are seeing across the country is not a labor shortage problem; it’s a wage shortage problem,” said Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage in a statement.
Meanwhile, some lawmakers have been using the supposed worker shortage as justification to end supplemental unemployment benefits that were in place for the pandemic. Montana Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte said on Tuesday that his state would no longer give unemployed workers the extra $300 a week given to them through the last stimulus package.
Studies have shown that receiving expanded unemployment benefits, however, are not keeping people from working. One Yale study from last year found the opposite to be true: Those who were receiving the extra unemployment checks, which were $600 then, were actually quicker to return to work rather than slower.
Still, Republicans and centrists wrung their hands over the unemployment benefits issue all year. It was partially thanks to Sen. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) that the unemployment checks were smaller in the latest round of stimulus proposals. Manchin is also infamously against a $15 federal minimum wage.
Meanwhile, progressives argue that higher wages would help unemployed people get back to work and working people get paid a more livable wage.
One Fair Wage’s Jayaraman advocates for an “equal and just wage” as “the only way to put our nation back on the road to economic recovery and to ensure that the women and mothers who have borne the brunt of the COVID-19 crisis can remain in the workforce.”
The organization was also previously supportive of Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vermont) Raise the Wage Act, which would have raised the federal minimum wage to $15 and eliminated the subminimum wage for tipped workers. The current federal hourly minimum for tipped workers is just $2.13 — far from a livable wage.
Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.
In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
We’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
If you have the means to make a substantial gift, please dig deep during this critical time!
With gratitude and resolve,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy