With Allowances Cut, Teens Being Forced to {Gulp} Get Jobs?

With the economy leaving even the richest of families hurting, more and more local teenagers are doing something that statistics show has been on the decline for almost thirty years—they’re going out and getting a job. While the jobs are still few and far between, those youngsters seeking work everywhere from the mall to local animal shelters are on the rise, notably among more well-off teens. The teens appear in panic mode as their hefty weekly allowances are cut leaving less spending money for “binges at Abercrombie & Fitch.” One girl who talked to the Times even had the private Pilates classes her parents were paying for taken away (bogus!). She’s since found work as a tutor because as she said, “I always like to be saving up for something that I have my eye on—a ring, a necklace, a handbag.”

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By Billy Parker in News on December 14, 2008 1:56 PM

Comments [rss]

schizofriendly

Boy, wotta crank I can be...

NannyState

I started painting the eyes and lips on doll parts when I was 4. And that goddamned boss still owes me my 12 cents.

Snoopy

I use to have three paper routes when I was growing up in Pennsylvania. I can remember delivering the Sunday paper at five in the morning with a sled when it was 10 below and the sleet and the snow was three feet high. The route was ten blocks going out and ten blocks coming back, both uphill.

Oh those were the days. Haircuts for a quarter, a balsa wood model airplane a dime. movies fifteen cents, gas twenty two cents a gallon, internet access two seventy five a month. Oh the good old days.

schizofriendly

I have been employed in some capacity since I was 13.

I was one of my town's most sought-after babysitters (hard to believe) until I graduated high school at 17. Made a lot of pocket cash for a kid that age, but I hardly remember a time when I wasn't working.

robingee

#14 - me too. Do kids even babysit anymore?

MrCow

yeah, and employment for teenagers is at an all time low since after WWII. good luck getting a job kids.

Tower18

I have been employed in some capacity since I was 15. And I'm only 26. Things sure have changed fast.

schizofriendly

Aha! There is a practicality to having kids. They can get part time jobs to bring in needed money into the household. This is how its been done for centuries. The kiddies earn their keep.

But why stop there? Prostitute 'em and/or exchange them for provision should societal hell break loose.

Alright. Back to the grindstone for me.

r1b2

All thses kids scrambling for crap jobs is creating an awful lot of competition for the segment of the community that would otherwise take these jobs.

robingee

Yay priorities!

I think, to be fair, there are lots of kids who are not interested in Juicy Couture and Coach Bags, and are smart and work hard. We only hear about the Mini-Douchebags.

Snoopy

7train? Outside of spraying graffiti on subway cars using stolen paint cans. What do you do that's so enjoyable and doesn't cost money? Read Spanish comic book romances that you borrowed from your girlfriend?

NannyState

I can't wait to get 'em in my clutches. They're gonna find out what gritty, sweaty, grimy hard work feels like. And I'm going to pay them shit and fire every one of them after three days. The Thirties are back!!

Jen S

I believe the children are our future. Skip the teaching and head right to Saks.

7train

Snoopy, do some research/reading before posting stupidity:

"Usually if it's enjoyable, outside of watching a sunset, it's probably polluting the environment in some way."

Snoopy

"perhaps instead people could enjoy themselves."

Do you mean like going to a club where they have $1,000 bottles of Grey Goose? Is that what you mean?

Usually if it's enjoyable, outside of watching a sunset, it's probably polluting the environment in some way.

talos

perhaps no one really needs that ring, necklace, handbag.

perhaps if people realized this, they would no longer waste their lives working deadening wage labor that either creates the useless rings, necklaces, and handbags, or gives people the money to buy them.

perhaps instead people could enjoy themselves.

perhaps we would avoid some environmental problems out of this, to boot.

Guest

.. and what a great time to go looking for a job!

It's OK - A little bit of reality never hurt anyone.

Schadenfreude.

Guest

.. and what a great time to go looking for a job!

It's OK - A little bit of reality never hurt anyone.

Schadenfreude.

BrooklynBredTom

I personally like the bit about saving up for that necklace or handbag. Because, hell, who needs an edumacation or anything that pays you back in time.