National Study of Fast Food Employment
In the 1970s and 1980s‚ the National Institute for Work and Learning (NIWL) undertook the National Study of Fast Food Employment to learn more about the character and impact of the jobs that employed so many young people. This study was funded by the U.S. Department of Labor‚ a consortium of fast food corporations‚ and four national foundations: the Ford Foundation; W.R. Grace Foundation‚ Inc.; Charles Stewart Mott Foundation; and the Rockefeller Foundation and resulted in the production of Fast Food Jobs.
Fast Food Jobs details findings from the study and addresses such questions as:
- Who works in fast food jobs and why?
- What is the value of the fast food job experience?
- What is the impact of working in a fast food job?
- What are the nature and quality of training and supervision?
- Are there differences on the above factors among various subgroups of employees determined by race‚ sex‚ age‚ high school curriculum‚ socioeconomic status‚ and educational attainment?
- Why do employees leave their fast food jobs?
The research design centered on a sample of more than 4‚500 people from 279 fast food restaurants chosen to be representative of fast food stores in the United States. The store or restaurant was the sampling unit‚ with all hourly employees from a store eligible for participation in the study. Some of the dimensions measured via survey included: demographic characteristics; family background; educational attainment and plans; attitudes toward work in general; attitudes about fast food jobs; perceived effects of the fast food jobs; and future plans.
To read Fast Food Jobs‚ visit the NIWL Resource Center.