Job boom, condo boom… retail bust
Here’s an interesting trio of stories: The working economy here is booming so “experts” are calling on the city to encourage downtown construction, especially high-rises. But this is already happening, with three promoters vying to build the highest residential building in the city. Meantime, on the Main, merchants are hanging out signs saying they’re hiring but nobody’s biting.
But let’s not kid ourselves. Nobody is buying a downtown condo with the proceeds of a job in a storefront on the Main. That’s why nobody wants that work unless they can’t find anything else.
Chris 09:35 on 2019-05-31 Permalink
If those merchants aren’t getting any bites, then maybe the wage they are offering is too low.
walkerp 10:08 on 2019-05-31 Permalink
Very worrying. Kate, you are pointing to the beginnings of the socio-economic trend that is ruining San Francisco. Service job salaries are too low for the cost of living, driven up by the internet economy and thus services start to go away and working people have to live farther and farther away, thus destroying diversity and culture.
CE 10:13 on 2019-05-31 Permalink
Last year, my girlfriend worked for a small grocery store on St-Laurent while she was looking for work in her field. When she left, her manager kept calling her to come in for shifts because because she couldn’t find anyone to take her place. They paid minimum wage and both stores on either side had help wanted signs in their window. My girlfriend told her that she needed to raise wages if she wanted to get employees but she absolutely refused. This was for a job where the first requirement was trilingualism!
Ephraim 10:49 on 2019-05-31 Permalink
I’ve seen this elsewhere and we are seeing signs of it here… automation of certain service jobs. Today, almost everyone at McDonald’s works in the kitchen, there is usually just one person assigned to the cash as we put in our own orders on our phone or at a terminal. This has become necessity and in fact, McDonald’s has actually closed at least 2 branches for their inability to fill jobs even at minimum wage plus $1.75. PFK has also closed at least one branch.
We see people at supermarkets who are balking at using the self-service machines for check-out. But they are going to become a fact of life as it’s impossible to fill the cashier jobs. No one wants those jobs. We are going to see things like supermarkets where you can scan your items with your phone and just walk out with your items. And the grocery pick-up thing is in it’s infancy….it will be faster and cheaper for a supermarket to not have a front-facing store, and to just fulfill the order and deliver it.
And those food delivery services… we are already seeing ghost restaurants appear…. I first saw them talking about them in London, but I know they already have them in Calgary and in Montreal I’m seeing some restaurants that don’t do take-out actually using another name to sell items on some of the services.
Times are changing. Also, we already know that many older people are moving into town from the suburbs because it’s walkable and services are close. They don’t need a car. Which gets more problematic as you get older… they aren’t looking for work, either.
Raymond Lutz 13:06 on 2019-05-31 Permalink
This January, we visited NYC (for the low hotel fares). On the ferry between Staten Island and Manhattan at rush hour (we made the round trip just for the pleasure of a it) I said to my three kids: “Look, those are tired working people, mostly of noticeable ethnicity. They have to endure long travel hours each day because they can’t afford to stay where they work, because the rent is too damn high…”. They were listening but none asked questions (they’re preteens).
For some analysis: Class-Divided Cities – New York Edition.
Ian 14:31 on 2019-05-31 Permalink
Anyone who has ever worked retail can tell you that it sucks. If you have no personal stake in the business, why bother? If they can get high-turnover students to work for them, that’s the best they can expect – especially since the neighbourhood has gentrified so far that working class people who might otherwise have seen working for a self-important grocer as a decent job had to leave the neighbourhood probably 25 years ago, or can just work at the Provigo closer to home for the same wages. It’s been a long time since you could rent a 3 and a half for $350 a month. Minimum wage if you are full time gets you $450 a week before taxes, and all these guys try to keep you just below full time so they don’t have to give you full time benefits. Try living around Charcuterie Hongroise on minimum wages, what a joke.