(Source: The Economist, September 6, 2013)
LONDON — The old stereotype that burger-flipping is how teenagers earn pocket money is no longer true, if it ever was. Half of fast-food workers during 2010-12 were aged 23 or over, according to John Schmitt and Janelle Jones of the Centre for Economic Policy Research, a think-tank. Only 30% were teenagers; 1% of them were 65 or more. Of the non-teenagers, around 85% had graduated from high school and over a third had some higher education. Many have costly responsibilities; more than one in three is bringing up at least one child.
On August 29th, shortly before Labour Day, protests were staged outside more than 1,000 fast-food restaurants in 60 American cities. Protesters called for the minimum wage to be raised to $15 an hour, up from $7.25. (That is the federal rate; some state minimum wages are higher.) The “Fast Food Forward” campaign has grown rapidly from its beginnings last November in New York, when 200 workers went on strike for higher pay and unionisation.
Full story: The Economist