Current Events > Former McDonald's CEO warns of looming labor shortage because retiring boomers

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.businessinsider.com/boomer-retirement-catastrophe-us-economy-mcdonalds-ed-rensi-2022-1

• McDonald's ex-CEO is warning that the number of retirees could lead to major shortfall of workers.
• The oldest boomers are in their mid-70s, which means even their kids are closing in on retirement.
• At the same time, the US economy is seeing record numbers of workers quitting their jobs.

McDonald's former CEO is warning of an impending "catastrophe" for the labor market as Baby Boomers and their children begin to reach retirement age.
Ed Rensi, who served as the fast-food chain's CEO until 1997, said during an interview with Fox News Tuesday that the volume of people starting to retire has been overlooked in the conversation about labor challenges nationwide. As Rensi pointed out, the oldest baby boomers are now in their mid-70s, which means even their kids are getting close to retirement.
"The retirement numbers are going to start to accelerate and there's going to be a lot of upward mobility because they're leaving the workforce, which is going to leave a shortage at the bottom end," Rensi said. "And boy, we're feeling it big time at restaurants, barber shops, daycare centers. It's a nightmare."
Rensi's warning comes amid a rising trend of early retirement in the US. A July survey of about 1,300 American household heads conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that nearly half of Americans expect to retire before turning 62. At the same time, the number of Americans who expect to keep working after they turn 67 fell to a record low of 32.4%.

Early retirement appears to have accelerated during the pandemic. October estimates from JPMorgan Private Bank showed that 7.5 million workers are "missing" from the US workforce. While JPMorgan found that 36% of those workers are unemployed Americans, the next largest category is retirees: 20%, or approximately 1.5 million people, opted to retire early amid the pandemic. Another 1 million people retired at the standard age, recent Goldman Sachs data shows.
The reasons for early retirement vary, as Insider's Ben Winck reported. While some opted to stay home to reduce their risk of contracting COVID-19, others retired early due to a lack of attractive employment options. For some, it became financially feasible: Skyrocketing stocks have led to soaring 401(k) and retirement account balances since 2020.
Whatever the reason older Americans are opting to retire, the effects are rippling through the labor market. Those retirements have come as a record number of workers are quitting their jobs 4.5 million Americans quit in November 2020, according to Bureau of Labor and Statistics data. The labor shortage is being felt most acutely in sectors like restaurants and hotels, lower-wage industries that are now struggling to fill open positions, but employers ranging from airlines to school districts are having trouble finding workers too.
Experts say the shortage stems from a range of factors, including stagnated wages, pandemic-related health concerns, access to childcare, immigration challenges, and burn-out among US workers.
Rensi warned Fox News Tuesday that the worker shortage, combined with the sheer volume of people quitting and retiring, will only lead to major headaches for the US economy.
"If this continues the way it is," he said, "it's going to be nothing but a greater and greater catastrophe."

I wonder how much of a labor shortage there would be if McJobs paid a McLivableWage

Those boomers need to pick themselves up by the bootstraps and work until they're dead like they told me to do.

Fucking lazy ass zoomers, get off TikTok and get in that kitchen and flip my goddamn burgers

Meanwhile Boomers and the media will go on about lazy millennials and zoomers.

haha get fucked ceos

smarter gens arent going to work for the shit pennies these morons were

youre already seeing it

Sweet, scarcity increases value.

People have been saying this since I graduated college like 13 years ago. No one should be surprised that it's finally happening.

Why work at McDonalds when you can beg for money on Twitch and YouTube?

KiwiTerraRizing posted...

Sweet, scarcity increases value.

I have gotten 3 raises since the pandemic started.

I actually got raised past the cap on my positions hourly wage.

Good I hope it's the most extreme labor shortage in history

Njolk posted...

Good I hope it's the most extreme labor shortage in history

Why do you hate society?

Might want to go the automation route, people don't want to work in fast food anymore.

dolomedes posted...

duncan no

corporations hate society

Corporations are society. They keep society running and keep money flowing. You literally cannot have a functioning society without a steady income of currency and jobs. Unless you think we can go back to a bartering system like animals?

Duncanwii posted...

Corporations are society. They keep society running and keep money flowing. You literally cannot have a functioning society without a steady income of currency and jobs. Unless you think we can go back to a bartering system like animals?

money is made up

Duncanwii posted...

Corporations are society. They keep society running and keep money flowing. You literally cannot have a functioning society without a steady income of currency and jobs. Unless you think we can go back to a bartering system like animals?

lmfao Duncan you wild

sorry doods, but i aint paying $10 for a big mac combo

fohstick posted...

sorry doods, but i aint paying $10 for a big mac combo

They're like that much where I am already

wackyteen posted...

I wonder how much of a labor shortage there would be if McJobs paid a McLivableWage

Next Thread: WTF happened to the dollar menu?

BeyondWalls posted...

Next Thread: WTF happened to the dollar menu?

the dollar menu barely exists now and is mostly small breakfast items

the faster mcdonalds uses robots to make the food, the better

This is what the boomer generation wanted

fuck you, got mine. Keep young people undertrained and overworked and living paycheck to paycheck. Hold the world hostage due to looming brain drain and the desperation of younger generations

pogo_rabid posted...

the faster mcdonalds uses robots to make the food, the better

Sounds delicious!

Godnorgosh posted...

This is good news tbh

How? How is this in any way good news?

BeyondWalls posted...

Sounds delicious!

A zero percent chance of someone fucking with my food is better than a low chance of a bad employee fucking with my food.

"And those damn young'uns just don't want to work. We're even paying 'em $15 an hour and everything. Back in my day, we worked for $15 a day and we got by just fine."

Duncanwii posted...

How? How is this in any way good news?

Because, eventually, the wages are going to have to go up.

Every voluntarily (doubt it), or by force (Gov't raising the Federal min. wage).

but this is so strange, I thought I was told all along it was so simple to replace fast food workers with robots that we couldn't afford to pay them more than starvation wages

Duncanwii posted...

Why do you hate society?

bc society is garbage

Frolex posted...

but this is so strange, I thought I was told all along it was so simple to replace fast food workers with robots that we couldn't afford to pay them more than starvation wages

It seems the 21st century has missed the heads of the executives, despite automation being cheaper.

BlockWatcher posted...

seek help

fohstick posted...

sorry doods, but i aint paying $10 for a big mac combo

It already costs that in central Florida.

Duncanwii posted...

Corporations are society. They keep society running and keep money flowing. You literally cannot have a functioning society without a steady income of currency and jobs. Unless you think we can go back to a bartering system like animals?

Youve never contributed to society, Duncan. You dont even have a credit score.

Why is anyone arguing with Duncan?

Isn't he mentally challenged and lives at home and gets chaperoned with his GF like they're 7 year olds?

XxKrebsxX posted...

Why is anyone arguing with Duncan?

Isn't he mentally challenged and lives at home and gets chaperoned with his GF like they're 7 year olds?

Which on is Duncan?

I want to block him

Njolk posted...

Which on is Duncan?

if ignore isn't on. it's post #27.

Why is McD's having to rely on boomers? I heard that was entry level work that only young people took before moving on.

That's what everyone said when they opppsed raising the minimum wage...

when i go to fast food places i only see millennials and maybe gen x'ers working there, never boomers

If corporations = society, then society needs to burn to the fucking ground.

Choco posted...

when i go to fast food places i only see millennials and maybe gen x'ers working there, never boomers

I see enough boomers at fast food restaurants, especially lately with the work shortage.

This isn't just about McD's but all jobs. The outgoing number of people retiring from jobs will be greater than new people getting jobs. It is going to be huge in the trucking industry for one.

wackyteen posted...

Rensi's warning comes amid a rising trend of early retirement in the US. A July survey of about 1,300 American household heads conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that nearly half of Americans expect to retire before turning 62.

How the fuck is 62 an early retirement

We truly live in a society, that's for sure

Gwynevere posted...

How the fuck is 62 an early retirement

We truly live in a society, that's for sure

retirement age in germany is 67