Why don't teens have jobs?

[Admiral Beez]

Doesn't one need to be over 19 to sell cigarettes and/or alcohol? That means most high schoolers cannot be even stock those items.

IDK, I worked at the Franklin House from 14 to 16 years old in the mid-1980s loading kegs off the truck and hooking them up to the taps. My official job was busboy or dishwasher, but I did all the odd jobs.

I even drank a few Molson Goldens in back with the chef. Now that’s what I call illegal.

 

[lenaitch]

Doesn't one need to be over 19 to sell cigarettes and/or alcohol? That means most high schoolers cannot be even stock those items.

I couldn't readily find anything about tobacco products but need to be 18 in Ontario to "handle" alcohol (Smart Serve required).

 

[Jasmine18]

I don't think this is at all accurate, even as a generalization.

Going to school full-time, first in HS, then in Uni is not 'loafing'; or if it is, you're doing it wrong.

I don't think having a job during HS is at all essential; if one can do so expressly in summer for a few weeks, or if we're talking about the odd lawn mowing or snow shoveling for a neighbour, sure...

But I'd rather students focused their energy not only on graduating but doing doing with good marks, rather than making pocket money.

Once at the Uni age, its certainly wise to get a summer job, especially when you're off for the better part of 4 months. The experience is useful.

But I don't think the stats support a huge decline in summer employment by those over 19; it mostly shows a substantial drop in teenage employment, which I see as a positive.

Lets add that some of the drop in teen employment is actually a drop in full-time employment of dropouts, who now graduate HS.

I'm not talking about having a job during high school I'm talking about having a job during the Summers between High School...

I think not having a job is a reason why so many young people seem much less mature than 18 year olds back in the day and as whye adulthood has been delayed been to the mid-twenties instead of being around 18

 

[Northern Light]

I'm not talking about having a job during high school I'm talking about having a job during the Summers between High School...

I think not having a job is a reason why so many young people seem much less mature than 18 year olds back in the day and as whye adulthood has been delayed been to the mid-twenties instead of being around 18

Do they seem less mature; I don't recall you being old enough to make that comparison.

As someone who graduated HS in the last millennia, I can say w/some confidence that while some of my peers were very much read for adulthood; a considerably number of others were not; and a few are still highly questionably in their forties! LOL

Today's grade 12s are much 10% more likely to graduate HS, 15% more likely to go to university/college, 20% less likely to get pregnant in their teens. Seems like a positive trendline, rather than a negative one, to me.

 

[SunriseChampion]

Going to school full-time, first in HS, then in Uni is not 'loafing'; or if it is, you're doing it wrong.

Excuse me. Some of us loafted at school whilst most certainly doing it right!
Oh to be young again!

Let's not forget that adolescence as a bio-psychological phenomenon isn't over til around the age of 32 (!) so I think the kids are alright even at advanced ages.

 

[Admiral Beez]

I think not having a job is a reason why so many young people seem much less mature than 18 year olds back in the day and as whye adulthood has been delayed been to the mid-twenties instead of being around 18

Given that so many young people seem to have anxiety, depression and other emotional disorders, I’d question if many of them are prepared for adulthood. Every generation before mine got down to adulthood, family and work in their early 20s, if not before. As a 15 year old I worked because I wanted my own money, to do with whatever I wished (thought I never did get that mini bike I wanted). I remember coming home from university when I was 25 in 1995 and my English-born boomer dad asking why I’m still living at home - he’d left England for Canada at 22 with three kids and a wife. I moved out the following month, three days after my first job acceptance.

 

[W. K. Lis]

At one time, school funding was only to grade 8. From link. I remember being in elementary school, and being told that high school students had to buy their textbooks. By the time I started high school in the 1960's, the high schools supplied the textbooks.

(Bill) Davis’s final term was also punctuated by one of the most controversial decisions he ever made: to extend public funding for the Catholic school system to the end of high school. The Constitution promised taxpayer support to the end of Grade 8. As education minister, in the 1960s, Davis extended public funding to Grade 10. There it remained for two decades. If Catholic students wanted to attend grades 11, 12, and 13 in the separate school system, they had to pay tuition to do so. Davis’s 1984 decision to extend taxpayer support to the end of high school began the process that ended this practice.

This was when the Progressive Conservatives were really progressive on education, unlike today where "progressive" has almost disappeared by their actions. With more time now spent on education (IE. homework), there is less time for paid work.

 

[Jasmine18]

Given that so many young people seem to have anxiety, depression and other emotional disorders, I’d question if many of them are prepared for adulthood. Every generation before mine got down to adulthood, family and work in their early 20s, if not before. As a 15 year old I worked because I wanted my own money, to do with whatever I wished (thought I never did get that mini bike I wanted). I remember coming home from university when I was 25 in 1995 and my English-born boomer dad asking why I’m still living at home - he’d left England for Canada at 22 with three kids and a wife. I moved out the following month, three days after my first job acceptance.

My opinion is many people lack purpose these days.

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

Speaking from experience, I regret my parents not pushing me harder to work as a teenager. Granted, I was more interested in playing video games with my friends and trolling internet forums, so that would have been a difficult ask. When I turned 18 and needed money to pay for university, I was stuck in the trap where most entry-level jobs required some sort of previous working experience, where I had none. Eventually after many months of searching I was able to find work as an overnight shift worker at a Tim Horton's, which was predictably miserable.

Perhaps had I been living away from home, I would have had more motivation to find employment by necessity, but at the time it certainly didn't feel like employers were rushing to hire a kid with no previous work experience, not even to stock shelves.

Come to think of it, the percentage of kids living with their parents past 18 years of age nowadays might also have something to do with the question posed in the thread title.

 

[Johnny Au]

Speaking from experience, I regret my parents not pushing me harder to work as a teenager. Granted, I was more interested in playing video games with my friends and trolling internet forums, so that would have been a difficult ask. When I turned 18 and needed money to pay for university, I was stuck in the trap where most entry-level jobs required some sort of previous working experience, where I had none. Eventually after many months of searching I was able to find work as an overnight shift worker at a Tim Horton's, which was predictably miserable.

Perhaps had I been living away from home, I would have had more motivation to find employment by necessity, but at the time it certainly didn't feel like employers were rushing to hire a kid with no previous work experience, not even to stock shelves.

Come to think of it, the percentage of kids living with their parents past 18 years of age nowadays might also have something to do with the question posed in the thread title.

Let me tell everyone here in UT something.

Fewer than 10% of all Let's Players on YouTube earn at least enough from YouTube advertising and Patreon to pay their bills and fewer than 10% of the those earning at least enough to pay their bills earn at least a million dollars a year from uploading or livestreaming Let's Plays on YouTube. Very few people earn over $100,000 a year from winning in video game competitions. Therefore, playing video games is not a viable career choice for many who are proficient in playing video games.

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

Let me tell everyone here in UT something.

Fewer than 10% of all Let's Players on YouTube earn at least enough from YouTube advertising and Patreon to pay their bills and fewer than 10% of the those earning at least enough to pay their bills earn at least a million dollars a year from uploading or livestreaming Let's Plays on YouTube. Very few people earn over $100,000 a year from winning in video game competitions. Therefore, playing video games is not a viable career choice for many who are proficient in playing video games.

Back in the day, nobody in my age group thought that they could make money live-streaming themselves play video-games on youtube, let alone a 6-figure salary. That revolution occurred live before our eyes, as we watched the pioneers of youtube and twitch streaming become big personalities and million-dollar labels.

Now the internet is a completely different world from just a decade ago, and as I sit here typing this in my mid-20s, I have to say that I struggle to see the appeal of the live-streaming industry, I'd much rather pick up a book.

But if you can market it to kids and teenagers, then there is money in it for sponsors.

 

[Johnny Au]

Back in the day, nobody in my age group thought that they could make money live-streaming themselves play video-games on youtube, let alone a 6-figure salary. That revolution occurred live before our eyes, as we watched the pioneers of youtube and twitch streaming become big personalities and million-dollar labels.

Now the internet is a completely different world from just a decade ago, and as I sit here typing this in my mid-20s, I have to say that I struggle to see the appeal of the live-streaming industry, I'd much rather pick up a book.

But if you can market it to kids and teenagers, then there is money in it for sponsors.

There's actually a great debate over the viability of playing video games as a career choice. I said in my previous post that extremely few people get rich from playing video games, but it did not stop millions from posting their gameplay videos on YouTube or Twitch (and most use the earnings to supplement their income rather than replace their day job).

 

[Johnny Au]

@WislaHD and others:

Here's an article about the viability of playing video games as a career choice:

Professional Gamer: A Viable Career?

Is being a professional gamer a viable career? Read about the realities of a career in esports, and the challenges of being a professional gamer.

plusmana.com

It contains both success stories and the reality for most.

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

There's actually a great debate over the viability of playing video games as a career choice. I said in my previous post that extremely few people get rich from playing video games, but it did not stop millions from posting their gameplay videos on YouTube or Twitch (and most use the earnings to supplement their income rather than replace their day job).

Well, I suppose you could have the same debate about acting as a career choice, as well as many athletic disciplines.

 

[Johnny Au]

Well, I suppose you could have the same debate about acting as a career choice, as well as many athletic disciplines.

That is true. Don't forget about fiction writing as a career choice.