Why did teenagers stop getting jobs?

[Martinus]

And what about the other part of the graph? Why are people who should be retired still working?

As for teenage jobs, there's not much that I can say, it's something that it's not done at all over here in the way that you describe it, which seems to be pretty idiosincratic. Anyway the tired old line of "young kids these days are too soft, unlike us who are carved out of fucking granite" seems so intelectually lazy that it embarrases me to read so many of you uttering it.

It does, doesn't it? I'm often surprised that for as many allegedly intelligent people Languish has, this kind of "folksy wisdom" nonsense tends to be so prevalent on certain issues.

It's as if these people wore their intellectual laziness as a badge of honor of sorts.

[Malthus]

And what about the other part of the graph? Why are people who should be retired still working?

As for teenage jobs, there's not much that I can say, it's something that it's not done at all over here in the way that you describe it, which seems to be pretty idiosincratic. Anyway the tired old line of "young kids these days are too soft, unlike us who are carved out of fucking granite" seems so intelectually lazy that it embarrases me to read so many of you uttering it.

When I was a lad, kids came up with much better cliches that that! 

[grumbler]

And what about the other part of the graph? Why are people who should be retired still working?

As for teenage jobs, there's not much that I can say, it's something that it's not done at all over here in the way that you describe it, which seems to be pretty idiosincratic. Anyway the tired old line of "young kids these days are too soft, unlike us who are carved out of fucking granite" seems so intelectually lazy that it embarrases me to read so many of you uttering it.

When I was a lad, kids came up with much better cliches that that! 

  And you didn't even have spell-checkers to catch "idiosincratic," "intelectually lazy," and "embarrases."

[Ed Anger]

Get off my lawn.

[crazy canuck]

And what about the other part of the graph? Why are people who should be retired still working?

Why should people retire?

[Maximus]

Anyway the tired old line of "young kids these days are too soft, unlike us who are carved out of fucking granite" seems so intelectually lazy that it embarrases me to read so many of you uttering it.

As opposed to calling people "intelectually lazy" without any kind of rebuttal?

[Jacob]

I don't know if it's just don't to the moral fibre of kids these days.

My younger siblings definitely had the Stonewall style "you will have a job" requirement from back home and they have at times struggled to find jobs.  This has certainly impacted their life - how well they lived during uni, and their ability to do the kind of things they'd like to do (travel, shop, etc) - and they haven't beeh able to fall back on an ever dripping parental teat, so to speak.

My suspicion is that economic conditions have changed and the pool of jobs available to students is smaller.

That said, I'm sure there are other factors as well and there are, without a doubt, some people out there who are irredeemably spoiled brats.

[Ed Anger]

I walked to school uphill, across a river and in a raging snowstorm.

[Maximus]

My suspicion is that economic conditions have changed and the pool of jobs available to students is smaller.

I have no doubt that this is the case, but is it chicken or egg?

[Jacob]

Anyway the tired old line of "young kids these days are too soft, unlike us who are carved out of fucking granite" seems so intelectually lazy that it embarrases me to read so many of you uttering it.

As opposed to calling people "intelectually lazy" without any kind of rebuttal?

Yeah.

I mean, it was a cliche to bemoan the character of "youth these days" in Republican Rome, Ancient Greece and Ancient China (if not before).

To apply a millenia old truism to explain a significant change in the economic landscape within the last decade, does seem more intellectually lazy than making a typo in your second language.

[Barrister]

I raised the point a long time ago, but it seemed to have been overlooked:

Could the graph not simply reflect that graduation rates have increased quite a bit over the last 30 years?  That the decrease in youth employment is because more youths are staying in school, rather than leaving school and trying to work full time at age 16 (as once happened more frequently)?

I suspect the conversation about after school part time jobs is missing the main part of the story.

[Jacob]

I have no doubt that this is the case, but is it chicken or egg?

I suspect the ability of late teen to early twenty part time workers to have a significant impact on economic trends isn't that strong.

If I were to offer an uneducated guess, I'd venture that there's increased competition for the type of jobs previously thought to be purely the purview of students. The trend to hire pension age people (as seen at Home Hardware and Walmart) is great for the pensioners (and the companies too, one assumes), especially in this tough economy, but it makes it harder for the students to get those jobs.

[Josephus]

I suppose many people arent' retiring probably because they can't afford to.

[Jacob]

I raised the point a long time ago, but it seemed to have been overlooked:

Could the graph not simply reflect that graduation rates have increased quite a bit over the last 30 years?  That the decrease in youth employment is because more youths are staying in school, rather than leaving school and trying to work full time at age 16 (as once happened more frequently)?

I suspect the conversation about after school part time jobs is missing the main part of the story.

That's a very good point.

[Neil]

Is this trend a bad thing?  Children should be children, there will be plenty of time for work later on in life.

At 16-19, they're not children anymore.