Kids do not want to work anymore

On+Sept.+5%2C+the+drama+club+gathered+for+an+after+school+meeting.+The+students+partaking+in+drama+club+are+practicing+for+the+fall+play.+School+activities+often+make+it+difficult+to+find+time+for+a+job.

Paris Lawson

On Sept. 5, the drama club gathered for an after school meeting. The students partaking in drama club are practicing for the fall play. School activities often make it difficult to find time for a job.

Kids nowadays feel they have no extra time for a job. Some kids are busy with things ranging from sports and clubs to getting extra help on school work. In other cases, the idea of getting a job does not even come to mind. 

Some people do not see the problem in this, especially teens. But what many people do not  know is that businesses are beginning to become short staffed, and the companies are struggling to recruit extra teens to fill that their staff.  

Having a job myself, I have had first hand experience as to what it is like to try to work in a kitchen when they’re short staffed. I often took over eight hour days when my manager needed it. Throughout the summer, I was working nearly 40 hours all together and six days a week.

“During the summer, I worked eight hours a day about four days a week. I have to fill in various different parts in my job to make sure we have enough staff. Sometimes when I work at the window, I also have to take on drinks because that is considered an “extra” job, and we usually never have people to fill it in,” ninth grader Kadance Zerbey said. 

It’s not always the fact that kids are lazy; sometimes they don’t have options. They don’t find jobs they are interested in, so some kids decide they will put off getting a job until they find something they are interested in.

“Finding a job was not incredibly difficult, but it wasn’t easy. I felt I didn’t have many options of where I could work because of my age. That’s why I feel most kids don’t work anymore because they don’t know any options that suit their interests and hire at their age,” Zerbey said. 

A great way to fix the problem of kids not working is having more job fairs during the school year. Letting the kids get excited and interested in certain jobs is a fantastic idea because it can introduce kids to jobs that they maybe did not know about, or they were able to do at their age. 

The percentage of teens who are still willing to work is going down fast. Even if some teens are working now, there is a possibility that they will quit and won’t get a new job afterwards to replace the old one.