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

2008_12_reinhold.jpgWith 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.”

Email This Entry


Comments (20) [rss]

oh boo hoo, american kids = spoiled self indulgent materialistic brats

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.

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

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

Schadenfreude.

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

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

Schadenfreude.

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.

"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.

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."

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

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!!

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?

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

Post a comment (Comment Policy)

Tips

Get your daily dose of New York first thing in the morning from our weekday newsletter, now in beta.

About Gothamist

Gothamist is a website about New York. More

Editor: Jen Chung
Publisher: Jake Dobkin

Newsmap

newsmap.jpg

Contribute

Latest Tip:

Wake up people!!! message from a doctor and former classmate of Nidal Hasan: "He was an outspoken
[more]

Latest Photo:

Subscribe

Use an RSS reader to stay up to date with the latest news and posts from Gothamist.

All Our RSS

Follow us