"Stealing" Jobs From Adults.

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The following is the description of my new FaceBook group:

It has long been a tradition for teenagers to get summer or after-school jobs. Some say it is a good idea for high school kids to work so that they will learn responsibility. However the recent economical situation has made it much harder for people to find jobs. It is a basic rule of life that when something is less available you give it only to those who need it most.

A lot of jobs say they are for people 18+. Rita's Water Ice is the biggest exception I have ever seen. If you go to most of their locations it seems that they are staffed entirely by ids who just started high school.

Why does a 14-year-old need a job? At that age you have 4 years left before you become a legal adult. Nobody will call you a loser if you are 14, live with your parents, and don't work to support yourself. However if someone is in their late teens/early 20's, never been employed, still depends on their parents for all their food, clothes etc -- then that person will not be looked upon favorably by others. They will be called a loser, lazy bum, useless waste of oxygen... People will say, "You're an adult you should support yourself. not mooch off your parents. It's time to cut the apron strings.

In a better economy I wouldn't be against 16/17-year-olds getting jobs. It's good to get a taste of adulthood so it doesn't all hit you in the face when you turn 18. But in this recession with limited jobs, it is irresponsible to give jobs to children who don't need it, while there are adults who are actually old enough to need a job. Does anyone else agree with me?

What about those of us with horrible families who we need to escape from ASAP? I need a job so I can get enough money to move away from my family when I turn 18. (But I can't even GET a damn job cos I have to go to my dad's house at weekends... )

I understand where your coming from (avoided working due to nerves & now at 18 think I will never get a job/though I wanted to work at 17/the economy sucks & I thought I would get fired if anyone discovered I'm an aspie/so I never applied anywhere) . I do need to get a job at some point (but going to college after this summer) . My fifteen year old brother has a job at a farmers market (for pocket money)(but I think parents should provide pocket money or buy clothes for kids so the kids concentrate on studies when in school). I think kids who are under 18 should only get jobs in the case ghetto princess suggested; need money to get away from parents. Now, everyone is having problems finding work (why I want to write) .

People who are <18 are cheaper to hire, depending on where you live. A lot of retail companies wouldn't consider giving the adult the job over say a 15 year old on the basis you have to pay them more. Thus the job was not 'stolen' from the adult in the first place as it was never aimed at them/they were never the target of the job ad.
That's the reality of it. If you don't like the fact that a company operates for profit, move to a socialist country A company is free to hire whomever they wish, they are not 'stealing' jobs from anyone.

Why does a 14 year old need a job?

Throughout most of history most people went to work at 14.

By 18 you were well and truly an adult and very likely married.

Only in our society are 23 year olds still going to school and living at home.

Only in our society do 23 year olds have to ask for pocket money and to borrow the car.

True, and that kids NEED to learn a proper work ethic. They could start doing that before they are 10, but labor laws being what they are, enterprising kids have to find ways to work for themselves because employers can't touch them.

Even though many kids stay home until they are older and don't get a "real" job until they are older, you also see that many kids who don't work until later lack the qualities that an employer looks for. Not having to work, many don't realize the effort and sacrifice of personal desires a job requires.

I have a friend that said something interesting to me, "Everyone should do two years in the military if only to learn how to stick with something they hate."

That's a quality you need to have in the workforce. You do the job you're paid to do. Quitting because you don't love the job isn't an option if you are going to be self-sufficient/responsible as an adult.

Firstly in the UK there are laws about what kind of work children can do and what kind of hours they can work. There are also laws generally prohibiting discrimination by age. But a job could be full-time thus requiring someone who by law needs to be over 16 to do it, and sometimes over 18.

When I was 14 I need a job to make some money so I could buy the things I wanted without having to rely on the limited amount of pocket money I received. It is also the case that large amounts of crime are committed by youths and if they were actually allowed to do some work and earn some money they may actually feel they are being treated more adult and also may act more responsibly. I'm not saying that directly they steal things because they can't earn the money to buy them, but I do think they feel partly oppressed by this and are less willing to have to live by "adult laws" made by adult governments they can't even vote for.

There are many jobs that a 14-year old could do and use some of the education they have obtained thus far to do.

I am also not totally against apprenticeships for many youngsters who would prefer that to school.

If I had that forced on me, I'd probably take the gun and shoot myself.

I started with delivering papers at 14 and working at a part time job at the age of 16 (actually 15 on a week). It were jobs that were not that good paying and uninteresting for adults, because after taxes they would not have a lot left and I did not have to pay taxes.

It was a good thing, I learned about having a job and financial planning. It was also a good thing to learn to interact with customers.

So it could be good for yourself.


But too look at the economy. A lot of the employers of the jobs concerned, do not take adults because they are more expensive. It is virtually a parallel economy, the rules are a bit different and it has different people involved. In the Netherlands this is visible, these jobs are almost not affected by the economic crisis, but are stable.

Even if an adult would take such a job he would get so little money, that living from it in certain parts of the country is difficult. So a lot of people choose to hunt for a better job and take the risk of staying unemployed.

In this economy, hiring minors under the age of 18 has all the benefits of hiring illegal immigrants except that it's legal.

Fair enough, but the premise is sound. A key part of being an adult is learning to stick with things you don't like because you have a responsibility to uphold.

You can't just walk away from things the instant you find you don't like them.

Because they're cheap, trainable, and can't do overtime (at least in my state. You have to be older to work even 40 hours, legally).

This goes all the way up. You'd be surprised how many people in their 50s have be shoved out the door, because they're 'too expensive'.

In a global economy, there's going to be a lot of pressure to go for the 'lowest common denominator'. Anything they can do to compete using 'sub-minimum' wages looks good.

I guess it's an eye-opener to see how young it's going....

There are some teenagers who work to help support their families.When I was in high school, I had an after school job to help my parents pay the bills when my dad was off work due to a back injury.

I started working at 15.

Benefits for the young worker: make money, job experience (good for future employment or any group, like honor society, you may want to get into. it's a way to promote yourself as a stand-up person. 'work ethic' is a magical term.).

Benefits for those who hire the young worker: low cost, low benefits (as they are usually part-time)

I delivered newspapers from the age of 14 (well I was nearly 15) for about a year and it was a job for me. It made me extra money that was far more than my pocket money and the money was rightfully mine, i.e. I had actually earned it myself.

I only stopped because I was coming up to my O-level exams and needed to put more time into studying / revision.

Of course, being an aspie, I got to know exactly what newspaper or combination of newspapers each house on my round was getting. We used to "mark" our own rounds too, as we got extra for doing that, i.e. we would take the newspapers into our sacks appropriately and I used to do mine in order even though I could have just taken the appropriate number of each newspaper and magazine and then selected them at the door.

Don't look now, but this article proposes the opposite of what this thread is, so
read it and maybe you can turn it around somehow and get the adult job you
desire.

http://www.mainstreet.com/article/caree ... -teenagers