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Economy
Why Aren't American Teenagers Working Anymore?
2017-06-05
Posted by:JohnQC

#16  14, carwash.
Able to squeeze into the back seat to wash the windows. Ass kicked by the blacks on payday.
Posted by: Skidmark   2017-06-05 22:23  

#15  at 14. My buddy and I we're helpers for a finish carpenter who taught us a lot of the trade. Looking back, we should have been paying him. Best job - a house at the corner of Grinn and Barret roads. YJCMTSU
Posted by: Warthog   2017-06-05 21:20  

#14  At 16 - a job at the local newspaper, calling to renew/get subscriptions. That's when I had to get a SSAN. Also - neighborhood babysitting. Had the lock on that, as I was the single responsible female teenager for a good few blocks around. Making 12th scale miniature dolls for a local miniature store - that was the job that underwrote my college education ... and a summer in England on the Youth Hostel and BritRail plan, after I graduated. Fun times...
Posted by: Sgt. Mom   2017-06-05 19:47  

#13  Dishwasher, 16, popular and nice Italian restaurant in a college town. Usually had 2 or 3 dish dogs scheduled depending on holidays or events. I can count on one hand the number of times anyone else showed up.
Posted by: swksvolFF   2017-06-05 18:58  

#12  I was an outside machinist's helper in South Boston at age 15. Drank rum and coke at Triple Os after work. Today Southie is Yuppiefied, Triple Os is a bistro and I haven't had a callus on my hands in decades
Posted by: Regular joe   2017-06-05 17:56  

#11  Embrace the power of AND. All of the reasons given play a part in it.

Another one is technology crowding out the entry level.

Started working as a caddy when I was 14. Had to get working papers in NJ then. Golf carts have driven (no pun intended) caddies out of the business except in a very few places.
Posted by: AlanC   2017-06-05 13:52  

#10  Our kids are competing for low skill and no skill jobs with 35 year old men from Oaxaca.
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309   2017-06-05 13:51  

#9  The very day I turned 16 I was driven downtown to get my drivers license around 10 am.

Once I passed the test, we drove home. I then drove myself to one of the local grocery stores and had my first job by 3 pm that same day.
Posted by: Crusader   2017-06-05 13:12  

#8  All the jobs are taken by Divorcees, Widows or Ex-housewives that need medical and are not old enough for SS.
Posted by: Skidmark   2017-06-05 11:57  

#7  How about getting a license - to mow grass, to baby sit, etc ? Let's construct governmental obstructions to earning a living. (Note that in the 'hood' where government fears to tread, teenagers can get 'off the book' jobs because they're 'kids' and don't get adult sentences for adult crimes.)
Posted by: Procopius2k   2017-06-05 11:37  

#6  "Teen earnings are low and pay little toward the costs of college," the BLS noted this year. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. Elite private universities charge tuition of more than $50,000.

So it's not worth it. Not if mommy and daddy are going to pay, anyway, or the Feds, via the low-interest loans they hope to never pay off.
Posted by: Bobby   2017-06-05 11:12  

#5  Too busy. Girls with FB. Boys with video games.

BTW, from that article you'd believe our schools were great, what with 80% taking four years English, three science, two foreign language, compared to 20% a few years back. What about the low graduation rates in the large cities and our overall poor international academic standing? I just read a couple of articles on extremely low scores on basic competency tests.
Posted by: KBK   2017-06-05 10:41  

#4  A lot of the entry level jobs were filled by people that had been laid off and needed to feed their family back in 08-09. I doubt many of the jobs came back.
Posted by: DarthVader   2017-06-05 10:04  

#3  Employers want to stay on the correct side of government diversity and hiring goals. The margins are too thin to handle the additional burden of litigating discrimination claims.

Everyone now works for the gov't.
Posted by: Besoeker   2017-06-05 09:53  

#2  Most of the traditional teen jobs now go to immigrants, mostly illegal, who then drive up minimum wage. ..i dunno, I'm just guessing
Posted by: Rex Mundi   2017-06-05 09:41  

#1  Lazy
Posted by: chris   2017-06-05 09:09  

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