For reference, the United States' "youth unemployment rate" is 22-23%.[1] And yet unemployment over the age of 25 is 6.3% and falling.[2]
One must wonder to what extent this is the fault of our economy and to what extent this is the fault of the youth themselves. I suspect a combination of both:
1.A lot of people simply don't want to hire "kids" to do anything.
2.The jobs younger people are typically trusted to do are being filled by people with more experience and more maturity.[3]
3a. The most in-demand jobs require a college education, which few 16-19 year old's have.[5,6]
3b. We've seen a cultural shift where these kids see low-skill low-pay jobs like McDonald's as being beneath them. Unfortunately, these are the only jobs for which they are qualified. Fast food service is still hiring. There are plenty of health care aide and fast food jobs available, but no one wants them.[5,6]
4.(Opinion) Gen Y has even less expectation that their children work before graduating college. The youth may say they want a job, but have little motivation.
One must wonder to what extent this is the fault of our economy and to what extent this is the fault of the youth themselves. I suspect a combination of both:
1.A lot of people simply don't want to hire "kids" to do anything. 2.The jobs younger people are typically trusted to do are being filled by people with more experience and more maturity.[3] 3a. The most in-demand jobs require a college education, which few 16-19 year old's have.[5,6] 3b. We've seen a cultural shift where these kids see low-skill low-pay jobs like McDonald's as being beneath them. Unfortunately, these are the only jobs for which they are qualified. Fast food service is still hiring. There are plenty of health care aide and fast food jobs available, but no one wants them.[5,6] 4.(Opinion) Gen Y has even less expectation that their children work before graduating college. The youth may say they want a job, but have little motivation.
[1] http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t10.htm [2] http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2013/04/06/number-of-the-week... [3] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-25/why-are-so-many-col... [5] http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/Content.asp?pageid=146 [6] http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2012/01/art5full.pdf