It wasn’t long ago when tweens, teens and college students could easily pick up a paper route or other part-time summer job. Nowadays, it is a rare sight to see a youngster manning a cash register or waiting tables during the summer months.
Some argue that this societal alteration is a positive for teens as it gives them more time to focus on self-improvement. Others believe that the lack of summer jobs for teens inspires indolence.
But if teens aren’t working what are they doing with all their free time?
Why Teens can no Longer Find Summer Jobs
The primary reason why teens aren’t working during the summer is the fact that full-grown adults are holding onto such low-level jobs with a vice-like grip. Take a look behind the cash register at your favorite fast food joint this summer. You will likely spot numerous adult workers in the kitchen.
The same is true of amusement parks, retail outlets, grocery stores and other businesses that traditionally employed teens once school let out. An influx of adult workers and unskilled immigrants have transitioned into such low-wage jobs as a result of our ongoing economic depression.
Though media outlets would like the general public to believe that the economy is on the upswing, the truth is that nearly 100 million working-age Americans are still unemployed.
The bottom line is that adults have bills to pay and mouths to feed. Any job is better than no job. This is precisely why teens have been supplanted from summer work opportunities.
The Cost of Working
Consider what is required to make the daily work commute a realistic possibility. One must own a car or live near public transportation. He must pay for automobile insurance as well as gasoline. If he lives far away from his employer, he must spend a good chunk of his time commuting to and from work, burning through costly fuel.
The unfortunate truth is that most teens do not have access to a reliable automobile. They pay through the nose for automobile insurance as insurers have deemed them to be extremely risky gambles.
Rewind time back to the 1990s when a good portion of teens held summer jobs. The cost of gasoline was around $1 per gallon. Today’s gas prices are double or triple that figure.
Yet the minimum wage has not kept pace with our currency’s inflation. In the end, the amount of money a teen must spend to commute to and from the workplace makes summer work somewhat of an exercise in futility.
What Teens are Doing with Their Open Summer Schedules
Though it is true that a handful of teens are kicking back to play video games, surf the world wide web and watch TV during the summer, most take the opportunity to better themselves in some capacity.
Some teens use their summers to develop their skills as an athlete, artist or musician. Others use the opportunity to enroll in college level classes at the local community college in hopes that those credits can be transferred to the college or university they eventually attend after high school graduation.
Other teens spend their time with their friends and family, enjoying the lovely warm weather. There is some merit to this decision as the typical adult works 45 consecutive years upon graduating high school or college.
Why bother working during high school when the responsibility will absolutely dominate one’s time for the vast majority of his adult life?
If one were to poll the parents of contemporary teens, most would indicate that they worked summer jobs themselves. Yet they would also answer that they would have preferred to spend those fleeting years in the company of their friends and family.
How the Decline of the Summer Job is Changing our Economy
It is easy to argue that the decline of the summer job is detrimental to our economy as well as our future. Summer jobs certainly instill a robust work ethic in our youngsters. A summer job gives them a sense of responsibility. It provides them with motivation to succeed in school in order to become a professional.
Plenty of adults will admit that they would not have become nearly as successful had they not been exposed to undesirable labor during their teen years. However, these arguments are critically flawed.
Most teens are exposed to monotonous and unrewarding work in the form of household chores. Some choose to use their summers to volunteer at homeless shelters, soup kitchens, animal shelters or other venues where assistance is desperately needed.
As noted above, a significant percentage of teens use their summers to advance their education or pursue their passion. One can argue that these endeavors are just as important, if not more important than holding down a summer job. After all, an education and specialized skill will last a lifetime while a summer job lasts for just that. A summer.
Regards,
Ethan Warrick
Editor
Wealth Authority
