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A comment on It's not a labor shortage – it's a wage and workers rights shortage. Parent comment

Re:It's not a labor shortage – it's a wage and workers right... by matchagaucho on Sunday September 05, 2021 @03:06PM (#28426836)
That same owner could be paying themselves $25 per hour.

The average small restaurant owner makes ~$50K per year and has very little line of credit. So unfortunately it's a zero-sum game.

Increasing cooks to $20hr means reducing their own comp to $20hr.

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Re:It's not a labor shortage – it's a wage and workers right... by antisthenes on Sunday September 05, 2021 @04:08PM (#28427333)
It could very well be worse than that.

A cultural shift may mean that people collectively decided that they will, for example, spend 8% of their income on eating out rather than 12%. That represents an aggregate decrease in demand and would indicate a negative sum game (something most of HN seems incapable of comprehending)

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Re:It's not a labor shortage – it's a wage and workers right... by imtringued on Monday September 06, 2021 @04:41AM (#28431691)
>That represents an aggregate decrease in demand and would indicate a negative sum game (something most of HN seems incapable of comprehending)

No, it represents a positive sum game because the job being offered is unsustainable and therefore should be replaced by a more sustainable job.

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Re:It's not a labor shortage – it's a wage and workers right... by kevinventullo on Monday September 06, 2021 @07:48AM (#28432756)
Does that $50k per year include the equity they are presumably building with that line of credit?
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Re:It's not a labor shortage – it's a wage and workers right... by matchagaucho on Tuesday September 07, 2021 @05:53PM (#28450409)
There's no equity in the LOC. The bank is first in line to reclaim that in the event of a chapter event.

The equity is almost always in the real estate. McDonalds basically just keeps the cash flowing while the land increases in value.

Small restaurant owners are more likely to rent.

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