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Comment by diogenescynic | Hacker News Reader

There are plenty of white teenagers who work at every In-N-Out I've ever been to--because they pay better. Otherwise those kids, in nicer areas like you point to, have better alternatives for minimum wage like retail. The reason the jobs you describe are being replaced by immigrants is because the wages have been stagnant or not kept up with inflation. Unskilled immigrants take labor jobs that Americans aren't really willing to do, like being a janitor or emptying septic tanks or pouring concrete in Bakersfield.

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To the parent's point, it's probably generally considered slightly 'cooler' to work at In-N-Out than at McDonald's. In-N-Out certainly seems to be trendier amongst young people than most other fast food restaurants.

Anecdotally, it seems that as general affluence within a community rises, so does the value placed on social standing. So your compensation package has to cover increased lifestyle expenses, adjusted for the position's impact on your status in the community.

If wages stagnated, but somehow McDonald's just kept getting trendier, I expect they would retain more of their original demographic than if McDonald's was increasingly seen as a place that only employs losers and morons.

Where I live in SF, there is a coffee shop owner who hires your regular high school/college student, next door there is a grocery store which mostly hires spanish speakers. One seems to make the choice to hire young kids, the other hires cheap labor.

Agreed. When In-N-Out opened up near our franchise, the managers were in a panic because they were paying 75% higher hourly rates not to mention what they paid their managers.

Plus, fast-food jobs developed a stigma as loser/dead-end jobs. Teenagers needed spending money, but not at the cost of being "uncool."

In n Out pays $11-$12/he with good benefits - much more than McD. McDonalds are also franchises so the individual owners are much more concerned with weekly cash flow than corporate In N Out who can decide to invest in higher wages for lower turnover and better staff which are longer term investments.

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