My guess is that employers wanted cheaper part time staff?
It is well documented that operating cafes and restaurants is among the lowest probability avenues for becoming rich, and highest probability avenues for the business failing.
This is most likely a consequence of demographics and excessive rent seeking. Labor prices go up, and people are only able or willing to pay so much for food service before deciding it is better to do it themselves.
excessive rent seeking
When a person wanting to start a business chooses not to because there is a 90%+ chance all their efforts will result in most of the profit going to the landlord when the lease renewal comes up, that is excessive rent seeking (most visible as only franchise or chain restaurants opening).
When young people in the bottom two income quintiles can see they will never be able to save enough (because of spending their money on rent and higher prices paid to businesses that are paying rents) to afford buying a place of their own, so they forgo pursuing goals of forming families, that is excessive rent seeking.
The other two points seem to be about the price level, not about "seeking"? Do you suggest owners of buildings should rent out their buildings below the market price?
Basically, the owner gets something for nothing, which is tantamount to rent seeking.
And how are they getting something for nothing? Would you say the same about all ownership? Like when someone owns stock in a company or owns pension rights?
> And how are they getting something for nothing?
Because they didn’t do anything. They didn’t do the labor of developing a structure, renovating it, operating a business, or even managing a tenant if they left it empty. Yet they will get protection from the police and courts and military for their property, and a higher price when they do sell.
> Would you say the same about all ownership? Like when someone owns stock in a company or owns pension rights?
Depends how the company earns money. Is the company doing something now, or taking advantage of excessive protections granted by the government. For example 100+ year long copyright terms, or recurring charges for structural monopolies without improving infrastructure (Comcast, etc).
On a societal level, one can see the elderly population who cannot provide for themselves depends on rent seeking as a whole (whether via sophisticated financial agreements or simply traditions that oblige children to take care of older generations).
Which isn’t a problem in and of itself, but excessive amounts of it is, because it will sap the younger generations’ rewards too much such that they won’t be incentivized. And this leads to the problems experienced by societies with flattening population histograms around the world.