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The National Restaurant Association predicts that nearly 2 million new restaurant jobs will be needed over the next 10 years. That doesn't count replacement workers, which by one estimate will be about 5 million.
Restauranteurs have begun to notice the labor crunch over the past 12 to 18 months. Many now feel this is the most challenging market since the last 1990's, the tightest labor market in U.S. history.
By 2008, women and minorities will represent 70% of the new labor force entrants. Thirty-four percent of the U.S. workforce will be non-Caucasian.
By 2010, the U.S. workforce will have an increase of 29% in the 45-64 age group, a 14% increase in the 65+ age group and a 1% decline in the 18-44 group.
In the next decade, 75% of new workers will likely be from Asia, while North America and Europe will have 3% of the world's new labor force.
Source: Hewitt Associates, Preparing the Workforce of Tomorrow, 2004
For more facts and trends, go to Perfect Labor Storm.
While we still read about the thousands of unemployed workers and a 5 percent unemployment rate, consider this breakdown.
Unemployment rate for college graduates is 2.3 percent, not significantly worse than the 2.1 percent unemployment rate for college graduates in April 2000, when the overall rate hit a 40-year low.
By comparison, workers with only a high school education had a 4.7 percent unemployment rate in June, far worse than the 3.3 percent rate in April 2000, while high school dropouts have a 7.0 percent unemployment rate today.
Source: Department of Labor, August 2005
The trucking industy is short of drivers - nearly 20,000. By 2014 the shortage is expected to soar to 111,000 according to a study by the American Trucking Associations. One-fifth of tractor-trailer drivers are 55 or older.
