Where are young people working?
 

I was Bank of America last week, sign for tellers wanted. Start at $23/hour and 3 weeks/year vacation, very few applicants, none acceptable.

Where I get my hair cut, they used to have teen/20-somethings wash hair, clean-up, etc. High end place for women where a women's cut is $150, great place for networking. Kids are gone. Stylists are now washing hair.

Customers of mine of all stripes can't hire anyone. I can't hire anyone.

What are young people doing for work? And why is there a labor shortage now?

I work at a tech start up, LOADED with young people. Also, worked at a major vid game publisher you have heard of, my question was always where are the old people, not a gray hair in the lot of 8k employees.

A lot less people actually looking for work. Some extra died. Some decided to retire early. Some are just flipping jobs looking for greener pastures.


https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2022/article/us-labor-market-shows-improvement-in-2021-but-the-covid-19-pandemic-continues-to-weigh-on-the-economy.htm

Total employment, as measured by the Current Population Survey (CPS), rose by 5.4 million over the year, to 155.2 million, which was well below its prepandemic level of 158.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2019.5

My son worked at an Engineering firm this summer on internship. Was making $30 per hour. Dude is loaded now.

I asked the order taker at Chick Fil A last week how much they make: Depends. High school kid about $13; HS Grad $15/16; and up from there

Mostly, they aren't working.

That's called ageism.

45+ and you are done in a lot of industries including gaming.

Demographics being what it is, there are just fewer young people in the US population than there are "boomers" (now 60+) and "boomers kids" (30+).

Before I retired, my department was mostly younger folks.

I really liked hiring the folks with relatively recent degrees, and even some "fresh outs". Because of the economy tanking 2009-2010, most of them had the insight (or advice from older friends & siblings) to stay in school and get Master's degrees.

My children (now in their 30s) and the younger folks that worked in my department know that they are likely to get screwed by companies (or already have been), so are getting more education and better jobs to better prepare for the inevitable downturns.

Daughter (22) just finished her AA this summer and is taking a break and will be working instead of school. She's expanded her dog walking business a bit, is working on her tie dye shirts a bit, and has a 20 hr/week child care thing going on for one of her dog (and now baby) sitting customers.

Her boyfriend was working in a car parts warehouse and was fired since the boss told that unit to fire someone. There was a guy that had started a week earlier, but daughters bf was *****ing about his supervisors not giving him what he needed to get his job done completely and properly (supers print labels before he can unpack a box and put stuff on shelf to be pulled by order pickers. he'd request labels and have to wait 3-4 days for them to be printed, other unpackers had theirs within an hour. think they had it in for him since he knew the bosses boss socially thru me which is how he got the job). He's now working as a waiter for a local place that is 5 minutes walk away. Makes better money (warehouse was $15/hr plus full bennies and a 40 mile commute but M-F 8-5) and not nearly as many hours and his day is free so he can restart school, but no benefits either.


Son (18, 6'4" almost 400lbs) just applied for a job unloading trucks at local Lowes, they had 2 positions open and 5 applicants, wanted an immediate start but he had volunteered to help my mom for 3 weeks post-op which would've prevented him starting. He's doen with that now, and is starting school next week (HS senior). He's going to wait for school to start and then apply at a local NAPA parts place, his school is 12noon to 4pm so he'd be available to work early mornings during the week. He doesn't really need the job - if he wants to buy new drone stuff or whatever his grandma pays VERY well for doing manual labor in that garden of hers as well as silly stuff around her house (helpign declutter, etc) but he wants to do either automotive tech, welding, or electrician cert when he's done with high school, so he figures the auto parts house type job would give good experience.

I wish we were giving more, a lot more, Ukrainians temporary work visas and opening up immigration.

Here's part of your answer, Shawn. I gave recruitment talks, around 2010-2011 as part of my job. When I began, I saw the tops of their young heads because they were looking at their phones. I said "Let's see a show of hands. Who would like to start at $25/hr, full benefits, with increases every six months up to $50/hr." I saw faces. When I mentioned apprenticeship programs in the construction trades, BOOM. I saw the tops of their heads again. Some of those jobs now pay wage/benefit packages in the $100/hr neighborhood, and these jobs cannot be outsourced. But they are not interested. They want to play video games and get paid.

Immigration is a dirty word here, Shawn. Those people work too hard. We'd rather just not have them here. Apparently. Inexplicably. Well....I suppose if their faces are white, then that might be okay. Apparently.

Many folks would prefer legal immigration here...and could care less about race. It really does not make a lot of sense to bring in labor (legally) when so many here are already not working. Cut out all the income-based social welfare and people will work. No one will choose to be hungry.

That is the complete opposite of my experience recruiting and hiring, especially in the 2010 - 2011 time frame. Most had seen the economy tank in 2009 and were anxious to get what they could.

Perhaps the group you were talking to weren't interest in being in the trades, but were instead being pushed to go to college. Perhaps they also know that 100 $/hr is not what the employee actually sees, and that the work isn't steady.

And perhaps they were checking their phones to see if the $100/hr claim was b.s. In my experience, younger folks have highly developed b.s. detectors.

Fyi, I was at one time IBEW but went back to school to get technical degrees, so I know a little about "the trades".

Heck, around that time (2010-2011) my older daughter was working 3 part-time jobs at the same time to get the money for grad school. My younger daughter had what she thought was a decent job and then the company (a rather large one) went under, so she decided to get more education (and change careers) to help open up job opportunities.

It is quite tiring to hear the boomer refrain that younger folks are lazy and don't want to work. Adults have been blaming the younger generation for about 2500 years:

https://historyhustle.com/2500-years-of-people-complaining-about-the-younger-generation/

My niece’s boyfriend is a talented artist. He sells his work when he can but mostly he’s a dog walker.

$23/hour is not a lot in Boston.

So true. Great link, btw.

Look no farther than lazy parents when you encounter a listless young adult.

Both my children have had age appropriate chores and jobs since the were able; summer jobs in HS and college, limits on video games, their phones, etc., etc. They are both in their 20's and will come home at the drop of a hat to help on the farm if I need it.

Also, everyone needs to learn the difference in how unemployment is measured, U-6 versus U-3.

That's is quite a bit in Hawaii, but COL is nuts. When I was a banker, I had fun in teller school. Had some cute chicks in there.

i mean they took the advice: if you don't want to work in the service sector ... don't.

i dont get how the people who have been lambasting for generations people working **** jobs for **** pay ... are suddenly not working **** jobs for **** pay.

like, what did you think was going to happen?

and why did you think that wouldn't happen?

are you mad about rising wages and people bettering themselves, or are you really just mad that you have no one to **** on anymore? me thinks its the latter.

COL is nuts in every metropolitan city....

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1659975153.jpg

A lot of them are creating their own gigs.
They network more than I ever did.
A couple of community college classes, then fake it, till you make it. Uh, hum...
Internships still work also.
Daddy's footsteps is not a sure thing either.