The idea of “McJobs” — low-paying positions with little chance of advancement — bothered the CEO of McDonald’s so much that, when Merriam-Webster included the term in its dictionary in 2003, he wrote a public letter of protest. His plea went unheeded.
“McJobs” stayed. Merriam-Webster said that it strove to record and define the words that people use, not pass judgment on them. But McDonald’s hasn’t given up. Earlier this year, it launched a similar effort in the United Kingdom, trying to persuade the Oxford English Dictionary to drop the term.
As these debates suggest, the idea that franchises, especially those in the fast-food sector, create dead-end jobs is widespread. Comedians like David Letterman joke about it.
Muckrakers write books about it (think “Fast Food Nation” or “Nickel and Dimed”). Even Peter Cappelli, director of Wharton’s Center for Human Resources, admits that he accepted the prejudice that many franchises provided “lousy jobs,” with low pay, few benefits and limited opportunities for training and advancement.
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