You may have heard about McDonald's putting on a big public relations blitz about offering 50,000 new jobs around the country. In some places, there were big crowds that showed up to apply and interview.
Today, Bloomberg reported on just how big those crowds were:
McDonald’s Corp. (MCD), the world’s biggest restaurant chain, said it hired 24 percent more people than planned during an employment event this month.
McDonald’s and its franchisees hired 62,000 people in the U.S. after receiving more than one million applications, the Oak Brook, Illinois-based company said today in an e-mailed statement. Previously, it said it planned to hire 50,000.
That comes to more than 15 applicants per hire for part time, minimum wage, no benefit jobs. Well, let's be very careful here. McDonald's refused to say how many of those 62,000 jobs were full or part time:
The April 19 national hiring day was the company’s first, said Danya Proud, a McDonald’s spokeswoman. She declined to disclose how many of the jobs were full- versus part-time.
This data goes a long way toward disproving two pieces of CW that are far too widely held:
1) People are unemployed because they don't want to work.
2) The employment picture is improving.
People are desperate for work, and there's very little out there for them.