Starbucks faces tighter hiring as restaurants add 48,000 jobs in May
Restaurants added 48,000 jobs in May, the fastest monthly gain since January 2023, tightening the fight for the same hourly workers Starbucks depends on.
Restaurants and drinking places added 48,000 jobs in May, the strongest monthly gain since January 2023, and that matters for Starbucks baristas as much as it does for restaurant crews. The National Restaurant Association also revised March hiring up to 27,500 and April hiring up to 34,700, a sign that the rebound was not a one-month blip. For Starbucks stores, that means the competition for hourly labor is not just with other coffee chains. It is with the wider food-service market, where workers can move to another shift, another counter, or another kitchen if the hours or pace look better.
The pressure shows up on the floor first. When restaurants are hiring this hard, managers at Starbucks have to work harder to keep experienced partners from drifting away, especially if another employer offers more predictable scheduling, fewer drink builds, or a simpler menu. A tighter labor market can help some stores fill openings faster, but it can also make retention tougher and raise the cost of turnover. The National Restaurant Association said restaurant job openings in April exceeded the number of unemployed workers for the first time since June 2025, by 245,000, while U.S. nonfarm payrolls rose 172,000 in May. That is the kind of labor backdrop that can turn staffing into a daily operational problem, not just an HR one.
For Starbucks, the company has tried to make the case that it can win that competition. Starbucks says hourly partners average more than $19 an hour in pay and more than $30 an hour on average when benefits are included. The company says those benefits include comprehensive healthcare, 100% tuition coverage for a four-year degree, paid family leave, stock awards and flexible leave, with some benefits available to part-time workers averaging 20 or more hours a week. In 2026, Starbucks also rolled out new hourly incentive rewards, giving partners more ways to earn on top of base pay and benefits.
The stakes are higher because Starbucks is still dealing with its labor fight with Workers United, which the company says represents only 4% of its partners. Starbucks says it has invested more than $500 million in partners and coffeehouses under its Back to Starbucks plan, including more hours and expanded rosters, as it tries to stabilize stores and keep busy shifts covered. For store managers, shift supervisors and baristas, the message from the May jobs report is plain: when restaurants are hiring more aggressively, Starbucks has to feel like a better place to stay, not just a place to start.
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