McDonald's in the 80s compared to today

[u/Charming_History7423]

[u/Alarming-Chance-7645]

Only time I've seen locals work is when I've gone out to rural locations and usually it's 50-50 literal children or retirees working for pennies.

[u/texasrigger → u/Alarming-Chance-7645]

Yeah, the kids thing has always been true. Fast food has been a "starter job" since its inception. Working for pennies went away with covid, though. I don't know of any major chain that pays just the federal minimum anymore. Even my local semi-rural McDonalds bumped their pay nearly $4/hr after covid and in many states they are getting $15/hr or more, double the federal minimum.

[u/Cool-Inevitable-3710 → u/texasrigger]

It’s not a regional issue, it's a systemic, corporate one. McDonald’s raised wages marginally post-COVID, but it coincided perfectly with menu-price hikes that resulted in a whopping 40% gross profit increase since 2020 - that spike has never come down. Consumers felt every cent. Wage increases were merely crumbs compared to the huge pie McDonald’s executives happily divided.

Also, let’s finally ditch the myth of fast-food work being merely a "starter job." Decades of stagnant wages, soaring living costs, and unprecedented inflation have transformed these roles into critical financial lifelines for millions of adults. The fantasy of teenagers flipping burgers for pocket change is convenient nostalgia that helps corporations justify poor wages - but the reality is far more bleak and far less innocent.

[u/texasrigger → u/Cool-Inevitable-3710]

I said the foreign workers being the norm may be regional. Areas with large populations of foreign workers perhaps. I've literally never encountered McDonalds being primarily staffed by "foreigners" firsthand across the many states that I have lived in.

roles into critical financial lifelines for millions of adults.

I was responding to the guy who was talking about McDonalds being staffed by "literal children and retirees."