re: Are today's teenagers being less likely to work the real cause of the labor shortage?

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I’ve worked with parents before who were terrified of taking things away from their kid (like a phone or video games) as punishment. I’m absolutely convinced it’s because they know at that point they can just shove their kid in front of a screen.

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I am not sure if there is anything to this, but it seems like parents have a more... I guess friend type of relationship with their kids (is this accurate? I am asking because just because that's what I perceive doesn't mean its true). Do you think that plays a role in parents being terrified of taking things away from their kids? (terrifying is an interesting word. I am thinking parents are concerned if they take away these devises something will happen that could damage their relationship with their kids).

But seeing how quick parents are to give their kids their phone or pad to keep them entertained so they can do whatever they have or want to, are you saying because parents often use those devises to keep their kids entertained that they don't feel taking them away is an appropriate punishment? As if they are using these devises to control their kids?

Gen X are generally terrible parents. Just look at zoomers. Sad.

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One of the dads says his teenage son is old enough to work but doesn't because he has to focus on too many extracirricular activities for his college applications.

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Pussification of America continues

My son is 17/18, he better be out fishing or hunting. That's too young and too much free time not to be enjoying the best adventures of his life.

Literally every generation does this shite. Welcome to being the old man yelling at clouds phase:

The Silent Generation complaining about The Greatest Generation

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“We defy anyone who goes about with his eyes open to deny that there is, as never before, an attitude on the part of young folk which is best described as grossly thoughtless, rude, and utterly selfish.”

The Conduct of Young People, Hull Daily Mail
(speaking on what would become "The Greatest Generation"

“The bad manners of all parliaments, the general tendency to connive at a rather shady business transaction if it promises to bring in money without work, jazz … women painted like prostitutes, the efforts of writers to win popularity by ridiculing…the correctness of well-bred people, and the bad taste shown even by the nobility and old princely families in throwing off every kind of social restraint and time-honoured custom: all of these go to prove that it is now the vulgar mob that gives the tone.”

Hour of Decision, Oswald Spengler (translated by C.F. Atkinson, 1942)
1933

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Old Timers complaining about Boomers

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“Many [young people] were so pampered nowadays that they had forgotten that there was such a thing as walking, and they made automatically for the buses… unless they did something, the future for walking was very poor indeed.”

Scottish Rights of Way: More Young People Should Use Them, Falkirk Herald
1951

“It’s an irony, but so many of us are a cautious, nervous, conservative crew that some of the elders who five years ago feared that we might come trooping home full of foreign radical ideas are now afraid that the opposite might be too true, and that we could be lacking some of the old American gambling spirit and enterprise.”

The Care and Handling of a Heritage: One of the “scared-rabbit” generation reassures wild-eyed elders about future, Life
1950

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Boomers complaining about the young uns

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“What really distinguishes this generation from those before it is that it’s the first generation in American history to live so well and complain so bitterly about it.”

The Boring Twenties, Washington Post
1993


“The traditional yearning for a benevolent employer who can provide a job for life also seems to be on the wane… In particular, they want to avoid ‘low-level jobs that aren’t keeping them intellectually challenged.’”

Meet Generation X, Financial Times
1995

2000’s

“They have trouble making decisions. They would rather hike in the Himalayas than climb a corporate ladder. They have few heroes, no anthems, no style to call their own. They crave entertainment, but their attention span is as short as one zap of a TV dial.”

Proceeding with Caution, Time
2001

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unpopular opinion but i question how important working a job is as a high schooler (assuming they do well in school and are involved in sports, clubs, etc.)

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Not sure exactly how important it is for like, character building or whatever (I know plenty of successful hardworking adults who didn’t get a job until their summer break of freshman year) but I wanted a job for the money.


You can build a nice little stack working 15 hours a week in HS when you don’t have to pay for jackshit.


On the flipside 99.999999999% of these kids will have 30-40+ years of work ahead of them so as long as they are doing *something* enriching/fulfilling/whatever with their time I’m not sure it’s really THAT important they start working the day they are legally allowed to.

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On the flipside 99.999999999% of these kids will have 30-40+ years of work ahead of them so as long as they are doing *something* enriching/fulfilling/whatever with their time I’m not sure it’s really THAT important they start working the day they are legally allowed to.

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right. i have to say i'm grateful that my parents allowed me to play basketball, fish with friends, travel to see extended family and friends, etc. during summer break VS pushing carts in the rouses parking lot for $8/hour

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most non-POS teenagers are pretty busy with sports, clubs, AP classes, etc. these days and there are only so many hours in a week.

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I did all these things and still worked.

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My parents did the exact same. I remember being really embarrassed whenever I would go in and the teenagers who were a little older would say they aren't hiring but having to ask for an application anyway.

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It was the worst. I still remember the time my mom dropped me off at some crappy hole in the wall Mexican restaurant clearly on the brink of going out of business to ask for an application. Of course they weren't hiring and they went out of business a month later.

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You can build a nice little stack working 15 hours a week in HS when you don’t have to pay for jackshit.

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Exactly, my son just graduated HS and starts college in the fall. He's already saved about $5000 and is working this summer for $15/hr cash. He'll probably have another $5-6k by the end of the summer.

Hell, I might have to borrow gas money from him the way thigs are going.

Small sample size bro