Part of the Z’s jobless problem stems from the lowest ever rate of teenage employment. Those teenage jobs are where young people learn lifelong job skills including how to search for and interview for a job. Why is the teenage job rate so low? A big reason is the huge increase in the minimum wage in many cities (going to $30/hr in CA). Employers can’t afford unskilled teenagers at that rate and so turn to automation or shut down. This disappearance of low wage first jobs is a real problem for that generation’s future.
Part of the Z’s jobless problem stems from the lowest ever rate of teenage employment. Those teenage jobs are where young people learn lifelong job skills including how to search for and interview for a job. Why is the teenage job rate so low? A big reason is the huge increase in the minimum wage in many cities (going to $30/hr in CA). Employers can’t afford unskilled teenagers at that rate and so turn to automation or shut down. This disappearance of low wage first jobs is a real problem for that generation’s future.