A Look at the Worker Shortage in the Food Service Industry

The past 19 months have been devastating for the restaurant industry requiring many restaurants to shut down temporarily, work around Covid-19 precautions, and also deal with worker shortages as many restaurant workers resist returning to low-wages, little or no benefits, and rude customers. 

In a report on October 12, The Labor Department said that 4.3 million Americans quit their jobs in August, the highest number since December 2000. And nearly 900,000 people left jobs at restaurants, bars, and hotels, up 21% from July. 

We hear from several restaurant owners managing these issues. We hear from Gregory León, owner and chef at Amilinda in Milwaukee, Marcos Carbajal, co-owner of Carnitas Uruapan, which has two locations in Chicago, and Susannah Koteen, Proprietor of Lido in Harlem.

The Takeaway also looks at how Covid exposed the systemic inequalities in the restaurant industry with Saru Jayaraman, President of One Fair Wage and Director of the Food Labor Research Center at University of California, Berkeley and author of "Bite Back: People Taking on Corporate Food and Winning."