What is up with younger people not wanting to work?

I can only relate what working meant to me. Money? Not really. I was often more happy when earning less than when earning more because I pursued 'contentment' as a life goal. Working to me was a way of 'participating' with others. It was as much like having a hobby as it was having a job. Sort of a way of socializing.

Maybe people today just don't need that sort of thing. They socialize via the web or their smartphone. So work being a way of socializing and enjoying others' company just isn't that important to many. As for a means to earning money and having 'things' there is a huge gap in our society. Even with a job one still cannot afford things like cars or housing so one must live with mom and dad.

This is causing a great social phenomenon that is as yet unrecognized, I believe. For example, in my neighborhood a daughter and son both live with their boyfriend and girlfriend in their parents' homes with the parents living there as well. When was that common? Living with your boyfriend while still living at home? Not in my era. But, seems common in today's. And, may become more common as time goes on.
 

Pepper said:
The rents are too damn high. If the rent were doable, more young people would leave their parents' home earlier, and get a job to support their apartments and an independent way of life. I couldn't wait to have my own home, and when I was young it was not only possible, but easy. The rents are too damn high, it's enslaving our young people as well as their parents.
Click to expand...
You are absolutely right. Also, when kids get out of college today they are carrying huge debts they must payoff while trying to begin life. That isn't how it was in my era. Heck, college was practically free then.
 
horseless carriage said:
Getting the younger generation into work ain't easy if parents have metaphorically kicked ass and got them out of their lazy stupor. Once in work they will quickly learn that:

Having a good job may add many benefits to your life, as it may allow you to live comfortably and provide stability for yourself and your family. A job can be important, as finding fulfilment in work can be important to our overall well-being.

A job may be important for a sense of purpose since it can provide goals to work toward each day and an income to support you financially. It can help you build skills and experience that will last throughout your career, even if you change careers later in life.

Your job can connect you with others, which can help you learn more about the world by interacting with people, be it customers, clients or coworkers, you feel feel more connected to society. Work gives you a sense of fulfilment: It helps to feel you have achieved a goal within your career or personal life.

A job may make you financially secure at the moment and in the future by providing resources to pay for necessities. A job offers an opportunity to learn new skills such as customer service, organisation or public speaking. Then there is wellness: Some jobs offer an opportunity to move our bodies throughout the day, which may contribute to overall health.
Click to expand...
You are absolutely correct in everything you've written. However, there is one big 'however' to it. If children seen their parents not working when 'working' they copy that in their attitude. Take my neighbors for example. One families' father is a school teacher who takes one day off per week all semester long to play 'hookie' from his job. His wife has a stay at home job. Both make about $300,000 combined per year. They have two children, a girl and a boy, who are in junior high school. The family spends a school teacher's summer vacation in the Bahamas each year.

My other next door neighbor is an attorney for the county whose wife does not work, who put both of his children through college (neither child worked in any job until they graduated from college), and he has two Tesla automobiles. He goes to work at 8 a.m. and is home by 4 p.m. four days a week (he is supposed to work a 40 in 4 work week). He told me that he takes it easy in his job because he will never be fired since he got his job by affirmative action. Both children live at home and are home most of the day while working part time jobs.

Work means nothing to children when they see their parents 'work' like this.
 

Last edited:
Murrmurr said:
Also, extremely few employers are giving full-time hours. My granddaughter can't get over 30hrs/wk and her boyfriend works only 15hrs/wk, and this is not by choice. They are constantly asking for more hours, but employers have to give "extra" benefits to employees who work over 30hrs/wk, and in some industries it's 20hrs.

My granddaughter has so many room-mates, the house they're renting looks like a group home for kids who aged-out of the foster-care system or something.
Click to expand...
As a fellow Californian living in your state, I can agree with you. We have the highest minimum wage in the United States at $16.00 (will go up to $20.00 per hour in April, 2024 for fast food workers). At those wages California ceases to be profitable for almost any employer except government jobs which can raise wages along with service prices, fees, or taxes as much as they like. Only government workers with have 40 hour workweeks.

The employment landscape and all that goes with it will change drastically in California in the next decade. And, only for the good of government workers. With a $68 billion state budget short fall at the beginning of the 2024 legislative session in Sacramento, and promising free medical care to all undocumented people in the state I fear that California will gradually become the Venezuela of Maduro rather than the Golden State it has been all of my lifetime. There will be no middle class left to pay the taxes. We've a Big Party going on now. But, when it's over it will be over.
 
Last edited:
Pappy said:
Now, when we go to our coffee drive through, most teens act like you are bothering them. And expect a thank you..forget it.
Click to expand...
I hear what you are saying. And, agree. I gave Christmas presents to next door neighbors and family friends this year. I set up a trust for what I inherited from my mother who died recently and named 14 family members as beneficiaries. Did ANYONE thank me? I've received no 'thank yous' from anyone. Unbelievable? No. Not really.

I guess I am just an old geezer that hasn't stayed up with the times. People change. Behavior change. Customs change. In this thread what I hear is the familiar saying "Sonny! In my day we did this or that. What's wrong with you?". Nothing wrong with that, I guess. It is the same for every generation, I guess. THis is how we say 'so long' as each generation passes on. I guess. I haven't been OLD before so I really don't know for sure. I guess.
 
Wes said:
As a fellow Californian living in your state, I can agree with you. We have the highest minimum wage in the United States at $16.00 (will go up to $20.00 per hour in April, 2024 for fast food workers). At those wages California ceases to be profitable for almost any employer except government jobs which can raise wages along with service prices, fees, or taxes as much as they like. Only government workers with have 40 hour workweeks.

The employment landscape and all that goes with it will change drastically in California in the next decade. And, only for the good of government workers. With a $68 billion state budget short fall at the beginning of the 2024 legislative session in Sacramento, and promising free medical care to all undocumented people in the state I fear that California will gradually become the Venezuela of Maduro rather than the Golden State it has been all of my lifetime. There will be no middle class left to pay the taxes. We've a Big Party going on now. But, when it's over it will be over.
Click to expand...
True. As Calif's largest employers move to Texas, and even out of the country to avoid the state's tax and banking burdens, increased minimum wage and employee benefits, and stiffer regulations, the state will have little choice but to "purchase" abandoned business real estate, infrastructure, and....

Oh. Wait....
 
Lilac said:
Schools should be promoting the trades & skills over college. There will always be a need for heating/air, electrical, plumbers & construction which are taking care of basic needs to live. Our local JVS has classes for high school kids in these along other trades. They also have evening classes for adults.
Click to expand...
I'm not criticizing - most people think of plumbers, electricians, and construction workers when skills trades are mentioned, but there are so many trades & skills jobs in dire need of trained workers and apprentices.

Glazing, drafting, mining, computer engineering in a variety of industries including auto, maritime, medical and more, and there's metal works, millwrights, agriculture ...well, the list goes on.

Skills jobs are becoming more and more specialized.
 
Lilac said:
Schools should be promoting the trades & skills over college. There will always be a need for heating/air, electrical, plumbers & construction which are taking care of basic needs to live. Our local JVS has classes for high school kids in these along other trades. They also have evening classes for adults.
Click to expand...
Our schools don't keep up with the nation's economic landscape and work-force needs.
 
I think part of the problem is that today's youth are living full lives in just 18 or 19 short years. These years are packed with excitement...then they hit their 20's and say, "Now I have to work for the next 35 years?! Screw that!!"
 
Beezer said:
I think part of the problem is that today's youth are living full lives in just 18 or 19 short years. These years are packed with excitement...then they hit their 20's and say, "Now I have to work for the next 35 years?! Screw that!!"
Click to expand...
You make a valid point! :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Wes
Wes said:
This is causing a great social phenomenon that is as yet unrecognized, I believe. For example, in my neighborhood a daughter and son both live with their boyfriend and girlfriend in their parents' homes with the parents living there as well. When was that common? Living with your boyfriend while still living at home? Not in my era. But, seems common in today's. And, may become more common as time goes on.
Click to expand...
I couldn’t wait to get out and do ‘adult‘ things. No curfew, no rules. Can you imagine taking your boyfriend into your bedroom for the night when you lived at home. To do that I had to go to move out and get a job.
 
gracy225 said:
Over and over again I have heard and read and watched the next generation indignant over working 9-5 or working at all. A whole lot of times these people sink into a gripping depression and in my mind, I am thinking "get a job". Thoughts?
Click to expand...

So, I thought about this for a bit, and I can certainly understand why some people would instantly react outraged by the laziness and so-called entitlement of youth today.

But then I think a little more, and I think back to my own life, and the life of the people I know. We get one go around this spinning ball in space, one life, one attempt at getting through it without too much pain and suffering, and perhaps even some joy. The model we've adopted is basically work work work and buy inflated prices for things so other people can make money. Spend entire lifetimes working working.

I know a guy who has been in the same job for 30 years. He hates it, but he'll get a pension, and he didn't know what he wanted to do. Hell, even when we do find something we like to do, we have to find a way to make money out of it. It can seem that money is the ONLY reason we're here, the only thing worth worrying about. In between bouts of spending hours doing something for someone else, we might get some free time to live life.

AI, technological advances, and a financial collapse might make us rethink the idea that 40 hours a week is nowhere near enough to give you a good life. That the only way to progress is to go into mountains of debt.

It's interesting to think about ingrained the idea of working working working for money is the best, and only way to live. It's kind of nice to imagine a world where the whole life-balance thing is adjusted to something more equitable.

Just a thought.
 
VaughanJB said:
It's interesting to think about ingrained the idea of working working working for money is the best, and only way to live. It's kind of nice to imagine a world where the whole life-balance thing is adjusted to something more equitable.
Click to expand...
I was never interested in what was 'equitable' as in comparing myself to others. Looking for equitable is an endless and frustrating pursuit. For me, contentment is what I pursued and at times for periods of various lengths I did find it. Contentment had very little to do with money or the things it could buy. It was essentially a state of mind of satisfaction and peace. I loved it when I had it. And, because I did have it I knew I could find it once more repeatedly. Make no mistake. It had nothing to do with drugs or mind alteration. It was simply a frame of mind relating to my world and its elements.
 
Wes said:
I was never interested in what was 'equitable' as in comparing myself to others. Looking for equitable is an endless and frustrating pursuit. For me, contentment is what I pursued and at times for periods of various lengths I did find it. Contentment had very little to do with money or the things it could buy. It was essentially a state of mind of satisfaction and peace. I loved it when I had it. And, because I did have it I knew I could find it once more repeatedly. Make no mistake. It had nothing to do with drugs or mind alteration. It was simply a frame of mind relating to my world and its elements.
Click to expand...

A way of saying, if you want nothing, you have everything.

What's for sure is that we're slaves to a system, and the rules of the system are ingrained into us, so much so that any alternative seems outlandish. But when you think of the bigger picture, that all life is centered around how much money you can make, it does seem as though that's got nothing to do with life in general.

It's an interesting thing to knock around. I guess, while we're living lives based on how much money we can make, we're always slave to the machine.
 
As we raised our three kids, we made sure they understood that when they turned 18/ graduated from high school, they would have three options. Number one, go to college (providing they had at least a partial scholarship); number two, join the military; or number three, leave home and get a job and a place to live. Fortunately, they all followed a path. Two went to college and one left home and got a job. They are all now married and have blessed us with 6 grandkids so far.

Sorry if this sounds like bragging, but I guess it is! Our kids have made us proud.
 
Wes said:
This is causing a great social phenomenon that is as yet unrecognized, I believe. For example, in my neighborhood a daughter and son both live with their boyfriend and girlfriend in their parents' homes with the parents living there as well. When was that common? Living with your boyfriend while still living at home? Not in my era. But, seems common in today's. And, may become more common as time goes on.
Click to expand...
That kind of thing has been going on for a while, though. I remember back in the 80s, a co-worker telling me that she couldn't wait for her teenage daughter to lose her virginity. Startled, I asked her why. She shrugged and said, "Why not get it over with?"

And I've got this hazy memory of overhearing a conversation back in the 60s, it was either one of my parents or a friend's parents, who were saying something along the lines of, "Hey, the sooner your kids start having sex and stuff, the sooner they'll move out and get outta your hair."
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top