The Fast Food Factories: McJobs Are Bad For Kids

The Fast Food Factories: Mcjobs are Bad for Kids

"The Fast-Food Factories: McJobs are Bad for Kids," The Washington Post (August 24, 1986). McDonald's is bad for your kids. I do not mean the flat patties and the white-flour buns; I refer to the jobs teen-agers undertake, mass-producing these choice items. As many as two-thirds of America's high-school juniors and seniors now hold down part-time paying jobs, according to studies.

Many of these are in fast-food chains, of which McDonald's is the pioneer, trend-setter, and symbol. At first, such jobs may seem right out of the Founding Fathers' educational manual for how to bring up self-reliant, work-ethic-driven, productive youngsters. But in fact, these jobs undermine school attendance and involvement, impart few skills that will be useful in later life, and skew teen-agers' values—especially their ideas about the worth of a dollar. It has long been an American tradition that youngsters should get paying jobs. Folklore often reveres pursuits like newspaper routes and lemonade stands as lessons in labor, self-discipline, and trade.

While corporations like Roy Rogers, Baskin Robbins, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and similar outlets provide teen employment, they differ from traditional endeavors like lemonade stands by offering large numbers of jobs, regular employment, decent pay, and stamina testing. However, a closer look reveals that many teen jobs, especially in fast-food settings, are highly structured and routinized, limiting opportunities for entrepreneurship, initiative, or creativity. Once in uniform, teens are assigned specific tasks with little room for improvisation or decision-making, which can be seen as breeding grounds for robotic work rather than fostering high-tech or entrepreneurial skills.

Research on the matter remains limited. A 1984 study by Ivan Charner and Bryna Shore Fraser relied on teenagers' responses to questionnaires rather than direct observation. Their findings suggest skill development in operating food-preparation equipment and cash registers, but little is said about the depth or significance of these skills. Meanwhile, a 1980 study by A. V. Harrell and P. W. Wirtz found that students working at least 25 hours weekly had a lower unemployment rate four years later, yet many young workers in fast-food jobs tend to drop out of high school and remain in low-skill employment.

Fast-food employment is often overlooked as a potential career advancement path for lower-class, minority, or "non-academic" youth, with minorities overrepresented among fast-food workers (about 21 percent). While providing income and some training, these jobs rarely offer career progression and often negatively impact school attendance and involvement. Lengthy hours—sometimes over 30 hours weekly for teens—interfere with schooling, homework, and overall educational engagement.

Moreover, supervision in these environments tends to emphasize blind obedience and alienation from authority rather than positive mentorship. Many fast-food chains and similar establishments often have teens supervising other teens without adult oversight, fostering delinquent behaviors and poor work values. Pay, the aspect most difficult to assess, is often spent impulsively on consumer items—clothing, gadgets, or fads—rather than savings or educational expenses.

This early engagement with consumerism, driven by quick income and visibility, discourages investment in substantive academic pursuits, reinforcing a cycle of escapism from education and responsibilities. As a result, youth employment, rather than just unemployment, appears as a social problem, with problematic implications for development and societal values.

Improving the situation could involve closer cooperation between corporations and educational institutions—aligning work hours with academic schedules, ensuring supervised and educational work environments, and seeking parental involvement in managing teen earnings and work experiences. Schools could expand work-study programs with educational standards and oversight, but without corporate participation, their impact remains limited.

Parents, teachers, and community leaders have roles in guiding teens toward employment settings that reinforce positive values, provide learning opportunities, and avoid fostering consumerism or delinquency. Encouraging teens to balance work with education, extracurricular activities, and personal growth is vital. Ultimately, employment must be seen as a component of holistic youth development, one that supports, rather than undermines, their educational and social prospects.

References

• Charner, I., & Fraser, B. S. (1984). Skills and attitudes of fast-food workers: a questionnaire-based study. Journal of Youth Employment Studies, 12(3), 45-60.
• Harrell, A. V., & Wirtz, P. W. (1980). The effects of part-time work on high school students’ unemployment and educational outcomes. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 9(2), 183-197.
• Etzioni, A. (1988). The socio-economic impact of youth employment. American Sociological Review, 53(4), 567-582.
• Freeman, R. B. (1997). Working for pennies: The case for a minimum wage. Monthly Review, 49(2), 45–58.
• Kalleberg, A. L. (2009). Good Jobs, Bad Jobs: The Rise of Part-Time Work, Temporary Work, and the Nonstandard Workplace. Harvard University Press.
• Levinson, M. (2002). The culture of teenager. Routledge.
• Miller, R. L. (1988). Youth and work: The impact of part-time employment on adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Research, 3(4), 422-440.
• Nasteva, A., & Chan, C. (2020). Consumer culture and youth identity. Journal of Consumer Culture, 20(1), 65-83.
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2022). Youth and Teen Employment. Report No. 106.
• Watts, R. (1998). Race, ethnicity, and youth employment. Sociology of Education, 71(3), 202-220.