A tough job market for teens, thanks to Grandpa

[Liberal_in_LA]

A tough job market for teens, thanks to Grandpa

Today, grandpa is more likely to earn a paycheck than his grandson, according to research by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston.

The findings highlight two disturbing trends: First, they reveal just how financially strained seniors have become as many in retirement age fill jobs typically sought by teens.

What's more, the findings underscore just how tough the market has become for teens looking to build soft skills and help with family finances. In fact, today's job market is exacerbating a trend that's been worrying for more than a decade: employment among 16 to 19-year-olds has been steadily declining since 2000 while employment among 60 to 64 year-old adults has consistently risen. Baby boomers have either stayed at their jobs longer, or taken lower-skills jobs ordinarily filled by younger workers, for various reasons that include the plunge in stock prices following the financial crisis and the recession.

"A lot of the jobs older people have taken would have gone to teenagers a decade ago," says Andrew Sum, economics professor and director of the labor market studies center. Sum points to jobs in retail stores and fast-food restaurants that are increasingly being filled by older workers. Aside from the fact that the job market has made employers a lot choosier, they're also more inclined to hire older workers with "soft skills," such as showing up on time, taking orders and so forth.

http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/03/29/a-tough-job-market-for-teens-thanks-to-grandpa/

[northoftheborder]

1. Sad that these two groups are competing for meager jobs.

[El Supremo]

2. Teens? Hell, what about college graduates?

They are being hurt by older professional people not retiring.

[Ikonoklast]

3. Prove it.

[El Supremo]

5. I'm one who's not retiring.

My company won't hire new graduates even though they are cheaper.

[Quantess]

14. I'm a college graduate, and I work for a very crappy wage right now.

A lot of my co-workers are likewise, middle aged adults who used to have a good job, college grads, who now make an embarrasingly low wage. The part of our job that eases the embarrassment, is that we know we're all in the same boat. But it still hardly pays the rent.

Some of my co-workers are in their early 20s, some are retirement age. But most of us are in the "prime" of our working lives, are were laid off from better paying jobs. Several of us are college grads.

[Shandris]

8. I don't know about this.

Given equality in all areas, the teen is less likely to get 'demanding' about pay raises, can often work harder hours (if not more), and doesn't know his or her rights as well. All signs say that a business would be more likely to hire the teen.

That said, I've seen today's teens and the problem is that there is little 'equality in all areas'. There is a strong, strong tendency among today's teens to give very little thought to work, what they're doing, and so forth. They arrive at work late, they try to spend large amounts of time on their cell phones or texting, work hard at circumventing company internet policy, and so forth. It's not something strictly endemic to the current set of teens; if my generation would have had that many toys, we would have done the same. I'm not singling them out as 'oh my god theyre so terrible'. But as the first generation that HAS had this many toys and distractions available, they're getting the brunt of the blame.

No, I'm not a manager, nor do I own my own business or hire anyone, so please don't accuse me of things. I'm simply relating what comes my direction from other people, some of who DO hire, for instance, or are managers. The worst anecdote that sticks out in my mind was a managerial friend at a fast-food national chain whose new-hire employee of about 17 told a customer at the front to 'hang on a sec' while she finished out a text conversation with someone. Not an emergency, not a parent being hospitalized, nothing like that. The location of the party later that night.

[roguevalley]

18. why in the hell does the older professional have to retire?

and who says they owe younger workers anything?

[Billy Burnett]

4. Thanks to grandpa? More of the GOP's blame the victims memes.

This is what "trickle down" means.

[Angry Dragon]

6. Where are the jobs??

[bvar22]

7. Extending Medicare eligibility to 55...

...would help solve that problem.
Many people in the 55 - 65 age range can't retire because they can't afford to buy private insurance.

This would also open the door to Single Payer Universal Health care,
and it doesn't have to be sold as a Health care package.
It can be labeled as Creating Jobs or Aid for Working Americans.

[El Supremo]

9. You assume, sir, that congress thinks logically.

How about stopping the age creep for full Social Security benefits too?

[bvar22]

10. Congress?

Let the Unitary Executive do it.

He has no trouble committing the USA to another foreign war.
An Emergency Relief Extension of eligibility to Health Care for Americans as should be a snap.

[Divernan]

11. Today I met an 86 year old Great-Grandma working for $8.00 an hour at Univ. of Pittsburgh

Part-time, sometimes 40 hour weeks, other times 2 days a week. She does office work.

It was shocking!

[Liberal_in_LA]

13. Hope she was working because she wanted to, not because of need

[ljm2002]

12. "Thanks to Grandpa"...

...no, really it's "Thanks to the greedy f***ers who ran the economy into the ground, and have now hampered any attempts to retain a middle class and middle class jobs in this country". i.e. the banksters, the CEOs and their bloated salaries (not to mention their bloated sense of self-worth), the hate mongers on the radio, the rich and the filthy rich and the politicians they own, starting with the malicious Republicans and ending with the complicit (and self-serving) Democrats.

It ain't Grandpa's fault. He has to survive in the system he's in, what the hell is he supposed to do, starve? What's even worse, Grandpa gets to take a low-level job as a Wal-Mart greeter, and it's not even safe - people feel free to abuse him if not outright attack him as we have seen in various news stories recently.

Yeah, it's a wonderful society we've created while we allow the filthy rich to continue to stack the deck to their own benefit, and they continue to manipulate us so that we fight among ourselves: public against private workers, right against left, Democrat against Republican, young against old, it goes on and on and it is working just fine. For them.

[Exilednight]

15. It's not Grandpa's fault, it's the lack of quality jobs for people with skills.

Our great economic upturn isn't so great when you see the McJobs that are being created.

[SheilaT]

16. Maybe the real message to be taken from this is

not to have children too early in life.

If you have your first kid at age 20, and that kid has a kid at 20, you're a grandparent at 40, and are still 25 years away from Medicare, by which time if the grandkid has a kid at age 20, you're a great-grandparent.

Hmmmm.

I'm currently 62, two sons in their 20's,neither of whom is a dad yet, so I guess I'll be retired before any grandchild of mine hits the labor market.

[southernyankeebelle]

17. What do they want seniors to do? Many lost lots of money in their 401k. Companies

aren't hiring seniors with skills. Some must work for their medical insurance. What do people want to do kill the seniors?