Teen Unemployment
Each year when high schools and colleges across the country close their doors for the summer months, many teens look forward to making a little extra cash at a some type of part-time job. However, according to a recent USA Today article, it is becoming increasingly difficult for teens to find work. The unemployment statistics suggest that teens today are having a much tougher time than teens five years ago. And even as the economy recovers, it may be a while before teens see any benefits as they usually are the last demographic to feel the results of job growth and economic expansion.
posted by Anonymous at 11:39 AM
26 Comments:
This is rubbish, there are plenty of jobs teens are qualified for, but of course don't want to take, and who blames them? You can't be a rockstar flipping burgers or building fences during the summer months.
What you just said is rubbish look at where most of the rockstars came from. They came from flipping burgers and doing crap jobs. I will have you know that it is alot harder to get jobs as a teenager than you think. One with substance atleast.
While I usually disagree with RTV, they're absolutely right here. It's not just teens, however- it's anyone who is just entering this economy. If you don't have piles and piles of experience, in certain fields you are absolutely screwed.
There are a few reasons for that:
- Illegal Immigration: These immigrants take jobs that otherwise would go to new workers- those with little skill and experience. This is particularly a factor in the southwest, but it takes place, believe it or not, all over the country.
- Free Trade: Manufacturing jobs, IT jobs, even accounting and legal jobs are now being outsourced. Corporations would rather have cheap experienced labor in other countries than cheap unexperienced labor in the US. It is extremely easy, under this country's obsession with free trade, for corporations to exploit workers in third world countries, paying them a fraction of the cost of what it would take to pay an American to do the same job. If we continue down this path, America will have exported itself to the rest of the world. Globalization has gone too far, and this is probably the biggest factor why new workers (high schoolers, college students, grads) are all having problems.
- Unions, taxation, entitlement programs, and regulation: This one, I'm sure Rock the Vote will love to argue, because these are all liberal concepts. Fact of the matter is, though, that the more you regulate labor in the US- the more taxes that are placed on employers for hiring workers (example: SOCIAL SECURITY), the more concessions that unions push for, the more attractive it becomes to employers to just ditch the US and hire abroad entirely. The left will love to argue it, but the fact is that the left's policies HAVE made employment in the US unattractive- especially for non-skilled positions.
Both the right and the left are to blame for the problem RTV just cited. Don't look at this from partisan blinders. Blame ALL of Washington. Blame Bush. Blame Clinton. Blame NAFTA. Blame the AFL-CIO. Blame every big institution that has turned labor into a cat-and-mouse game between government, unions, and employers.
Until these problems are resolved, I'm convinced America will never return back to the prosperity of the late 1990s.
I wasn't really comparing rockstar's roots to specific jobs so any literal interpretation was not intended, however:
"I will have you know that it is alot harder to get jobs as a teenager than you think. One with substance at least."
"If you don't have piles and piles of experience, in certain fields you are absolutely screwed."
Teens can get a job that doesn't have substance they just choose not to. Experience? How much experience can you have working a seasonal job once or twice in your life? And furthermore why should ANY employer hire a teen to a substantial job if they will just leave once school starts again? I know, life sucks deal with it and go get one of those non-substatial jobs, you might learn something.
For the record I had many manual labor jobs while I was in school until I hit my Junior year in college when I had enough experience and knowledge to teach local high school students while being paid by the district.
The jobs are there, just suck up your pride and go get one.
Well, with the experience thing I was talking about college grads, but I should have clarified that.
In any case, high school students are losing out to illegal immigrants, AND they're having many of the jobs they do sent abroad. College students and new graduates face the same problem. That was the essence of my argument, along with the fact that the left has forced the cost of labor up way too high for employers in the US. Combine the two, and you have a perfect storm ruining our economy, at the hands of both the far right and the far left.
Somebody needs to show up and give both the left and the right an economic smackdown. This country needs a wake up call, and I don't trust the Democrats or the Republicans to deliver that wake up call. We need to do something now, or we will have fundamentally doomed both our generation and those to come. At this point, India and China have a better outlook than we do.
I don't see any jobs for teens being exported to other countries. It would be hard for Denny's and stores at the mall to export jobs over seas. I think a lot of the issues with teen unemployment is that they expect to walk into a great job paying $10 with no experience. This generation is not accustomed to working for what they get, they are used to having things given to them.
Economic smackdown? Does anyone seriously believe that, if we begin creating international trade restrictions to limit the outsourcing of American jobs, other countries will not pass similar restrictions on the outsourcing of their jobs to America?Yes, we can stop some jobs of computer programmers from going overseas. But what if Japan, for example, restricts the outsourcing of jobs to the United States, and Americans working for Toyota and Honda start getting laid off? What about Americans working for other foreign-owned companies operating in the United States? Anything that increases economic efficiency, whether by outsourcing or a hundred other things, is likely to cost somebody's job. The automobile cost the jobs of people who took care of horses or made saddles, carriages, and horseshoes. Computers sent typewriter manufacturers into bankruptcy. Economics is about the most efficient allocation of finite resources.
if we begin creating international trade restrictions to limit the outsourcing of American jobs, other countries will not pass similar restrictions on the outsourcing of their jobs to America?
They already do.
If you look at most free trade agreements, you'll note that America makes far more concessions than the other countries do. You saw it in the automobile industry back when this first started, where we allowed Japan to export as much as they want over here, while Japan restricted what we could do over there.
Free trade agreements are hardly "free." Corporate greed to increase the share of the bottom line for their stockholders over everything else has created a culture in which corporations love free trade agreements- even if they're totally biased against America- because it opens up their market for sales.
Other countries will continue to sell products and create businesses in the US, even if we engage in some protectionism. Why? Because our currency is worth more than most other countries. Because our country has less restrictions on business than most in, say, Europe do. These countries are not going to disappear from investing in the US if we protect our own workers and industry like those countries themselves already do.
By "protecting" american jobs, the consumer pays the price in the end. Much like Bush's steel tarif, ultimately you and I pay the price with higher cost of goods to keep inefficient companies in business. The objecitve is to increase the standard of living in America, I fail to see how forcing me to buy more expensive Domestic goods as opposed to cheaper foreign goods achieves that goal. I would prefer it we would use comparitive advantage to obtain products that we cannot produce as efficiently as other countries.
FREE TRADE is why we have the standard of living we have today. Compare our standard of living with any other country in world.
I have no problem paying someone else in another country 8 cents to make my tee-shirt or $1.23 to make my shoes. Cheaper goods increase the standard of living and frees up disposeable income to foster future investment and technology. This is a global economy, we are not going back. We are not a manufactoring country any longer, as we evolve so does our job market. You can either accept it or become unemployed.
This has absolutely nothing to do with soccer.
(sean foushee)
This is rubbish, there are plenty of jobs teens are qualified for, but of course don't want to take, and who blames them?
(anonymous)
By "protecting" american jobs, the consumer pays the price in the end. Much like Bush's steel tarif, ultimately you and I pay the price with higher cost of goods to keep inefficient companies in business. The objecitve is to increase the standard of living in America, I fail to see how forcing me to buy more expensive Domestic goods as opposed to cheaper foreign goods achieves that goal. I would prefer it we would use comparitive advantage to obtain products that we cannot produce as efficiently as other countries.
Good God, can you two be more of a tard? Turn off Hush Bimbo's radio show for a minute and THINK. Do you think that a piss-poor economy with a much lower cost of living equals EFFICIENCY? In other words, a shirt produced by a 17-cent per hour worker in Vietnam (real wage taken from a recent news story) as opposed to a $5.35 per hour American means that the Vietnam worker is (5.35/0.17) = 3147% more efficient than an American worker? Give me a freakin break. Here's a clue: another country's economy sucks, usually due to bad governing practices (aka running the money printing press 24/7), so that country's money is worth less. As a result, the USA-(insertthirdworldcountryhere) currency exchange rate greatly values the USA. But just as the Vietnamese worker scrapes by with barely enough money to live, so does an American worker. Why? COST OF LIVING. What affects cost of living? The prices that businesses charge, from the local veterinarian all the way to the megacorporations. If American consumers' money is spent paying other Americans, then the money is recycled; if it is spent paying people in Vietnam, then the money is OUT of our economic system. Unless you think that Vietnamese people are going to be buying a lot of things from us for 31x the cost to produce over there. As I see it, the only somewhat stable jobs are those that require physically living in the USA, such as veterinarians, dog catchers, food servers, truck drivers, and the like. Unless... we import L1'ers to take those jobs! Yeah! They'll work 31x more efficiently than Americans who should just suck it up and look for work elsewhere. Oh yeah, there wouldn't be any jobs left, unless you want to move to a third-world country and live there (which would include not just the economy, but the GOVERNMENT, which I doubt many Americans would take a liking to).
Seriously, dude, what jobs would be left in this country if the jobs all went to the lowest bidder, without boundaries? Personally I say we bring in CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, and COOs with L1 visas from some dirt-farming country.
I'm all for hard work, but I cannot support a perversion of capitalism. I hardly think that Ayn Rand envisioned the modern day robber barons when she discussed Producers.
Here is a more verbose article about the subject of teen unemployment.
I guess the only option for America's youth is to work for free as interns, because every non-English-language-required unskilled position will go to illegals.
Anyone got anything to say to that. Turn off Oxycotin and start reading. Repeating what you heard in the echo chamber doesn't make you think. It just proves that you can be a monkey or a parrot.
Tell you what erik, since you seem to declare yourself the consummate economist and expert in all things relating to the economy, why don't you tell us what job you think teens are entitled to in the marketplace. And while you're at it let us know what is a fair wage to pay someone with little or no job experience? Should business owners be forced to pay teens what you and the rest of your ilk consider 'fair' or should we just leave that up to the free market?
As for En English, Sil Vous Plait, I'm sorry you seem to feel that anyone who states an economic fact is a Rush dittohead, but I suppose expecting rational thought from you is a bit too much to ask.
Which part of "there are plenty of jobs teens are qualified for, but of course don't want to take" is a statement of "economic fact"? Sounds like a generalization formed from your own opinion.
Foushee not wanna actually argue points but instead try to ignore comments by making a snide remark? Yeah, that sounds like El Rushbo, too. Come on, fess up; which radio hosts are your idols? Mine is Dr. Demento.
en english, I've made my points, you name call. Sorry if this discussion is a bit more advanced than "FIRST POST!".
en english, I've made my points, you name call.
Really? I'm looking, but the only response that you made to my counterpoints is an inference that you state "economic fact" then going on to sling out an insult, yourself.
I implied tarded-ness, that's true. One time. So... you boil my page-long argument down to "name calling", when only one sentence contained a statement of such.
Unless you are personally offended by the "pet names" given to various talk show hosts? Or do you think that believing sean foushee to be a die-hard fan of right-wing radio amounts to name calling? The Baby Jesus will not be happy when you deny him the third time (before the rooster crows). Or is that, before they come to snuff the rooster?
As long as we're kissin' (Limbaugh) a** and callin' names, I dub thee:
sean "room temperature iq" foushee
And with that note and any luck (like maybe you'll one day taste the bitter side of the perverted, not true, form of capitalism that this country currently has), I'll leave you with this:
LAST POST!!
We've got a lot of youthophobes on this blog. Get back to your bridge games, you crotchety old haters.
Still haven't heard what jobs you believe teens are entitled to, should I stop holding my breath? This isn't age discrimination, just a fact of life, the majority of teens have little to no job skills or experience, so expecting a two digit hourly wage in your teens is unrealistic.
Why don't some of you grow up a little and realize you're not entitled to a job, and you're sure not entitled to force employers to hire you just because you're in need of a job. You will get hired if you have experience and realistic views as to your pay based on that experience and your job skills.
As of right now all I've heard is that those of us who understand how the hiring practice in America works are bigots, old or retards. If any of you are teens spouting this crap you should work hard to change you attitude or you'll find yourself bitter and always blaming others for your short falls in life.
And note that employers are not entitled to do business in this country; that is a privilege granted to them by US. If business owners are going to be dipshits, then their businesses can be nationalized.
Are illegals entitled to jobs in this country?
As far as I can see, all they're entitled to is a boot in the rear end.
Wow, Fousheé is really one to talk about people lacking qualifications, working for
his dad, going from a teacher at a community college to the (inflated) position of Vice President of Multimedia. Check the News section for Sept. 2002. I thought that the word "professor" was reserved for those with doctorate degrees. Where I went to college, other teachers were simply called "instructor". Now who can't make it on his own merits? Those who can, do; those who can't, teach; those who can't teach, are hired by their dad.
Is there a problem helping one's parents out when they start a business of their own? You know the one thing that site doesn't tell you is I have my own company and only work as a technology consultant for the company.
I commend you though for posting my information under the guise of anonymity. At least I'm man enough to post under my real name and I have nothing to hide from. If you'd like I'll email you my resume and academic transcript if it will help you sleep better at night knowing how qualified I am, but the point still remains I'm hardly a teen anymore with the job experience of a few seasonal jobs.
Whats wrong with answering my question? Is it that hard to come up with a job you people think teens should be able to get with little or no work experience? Of course, once again all you guys want to do is make with the personal attacks.
I think the anger anon wanted me to feel was instead felt by ryan. I understand his frustration, not really the name calling, but I can see how after weeks of being called everything in the book by liberals and then instead of answering a question of putting forth an idea they resort to anonymous posting of personal information in a failed attempt at junior politics of personal destruction.
To ryan, I'd say relax, whomever anon turns out to be doesn't matter. I've obviously hit a hot button with the google fans, but all that they've posted is information I've already divulged on this blog, so I guess in some small way I should thank anon for verifying information without me having to look like some self indulgent prick. At least this way I won't be called names for helping my dad out with his business like I was when I posted that I helped my sister-in-law move from the ghettos and find a job.
BTW, I'm still waiting on an answer to my question. Come on kiddies, let me know what jobs teens with little to no job experience should be entitled to. And I call you kiddies because many of you who are crying age discrimination when there is none must be a teenager yourselves, otherwise you'd see that job experience and job skills dictate employment not age.
So enough with the name calling and answer the question.
ryan does anything you said have to with the article that is being discussed? what were you thinking?
at 16 i was homeless,(kinda living from couch to couch) so im at dunkin doughnuts at like 3:30 AM and my friends and i are looking for a ride.(its december) so we ask, this dude in a shiny car and he says yes! but i got stuck in the front seat with him, so i ask what he does and he works a t a bakery a few blocks down and he had just bought his car that day and wanted to drive to get some coffe. so i ask if he needs any help at this bakery. i started a paid apprentiship at 6.50/hr. i can now bake more than 200 loaves an hour. so you just have to ask.
Wow I totally agree with you. There is totally alot of jobs teens lke me prefer not to take because it is degrading having to work flipping burgers and having your friends see you like that. It also hurts you r pride alot to know that there is always something better but you are stuck there flipping burgers.
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