Hot Waitresses

Economists love their indicators. We believe by looking at some chosen statistic, broader implications can be drawn about the economy. Some of these indicators make a lot of sense and tell us important things about the health of the economy. For example the Case-Shiller Index measures housing prices while the Purchasing Managers Index gauges confidence in the manufacturing sector. However, in the rush for individual economists to standout several loopy indicators have been developed, my favorite of which is the Hot Waitress Index.

The Hot Waitress Economic Index “indicates the state of the economy by measuring the number of attractive people working as waiters/waitresses.” The idea being that as the number of sexy people working service industry jobs increases, the more dire the economy and vice versa. It assumes that in good economic times attractive people (particularly females) can find work as models or actresses. As finances contract, those jobs dry up and hopeful models and actresses are forced to find work in other areas, the most common being in the service industry (the low entry and exit costs of the service industry make it a natural choice). This indicator even works in places that lack a strong media industry because the attractive people will stay in their hometowns instead of migrating because they believe that they will not be able to get the jobs they want.

So if your waitress at the local bistro could be described as a “butter face,” remember it’s good for the economy.