To think society would be better if you could join the workforce sooner

[Welllllll]

And the age of compulsory education was lowered I’m not sure exactly what age to but 18 seems quite and as a result it is then years longer before you can move out and gain independence that generations ago you gained much earlier high Aibu to think it would be better if it was more practical for people to be able to get a job and as a result move out/ become adults than what they already are with the system of for most young people adolescence seems to drag on into the early 20s due to the delay in leaving school/university and getting on the property ladder?

Jesus, yes let's throw everyone into the rat race at an even earlier age!

Unless you are academic, being stuck in education til 18 isn't really a benefit for many teenagers.

Raising the leaving age from 16 has only been done to massage unemployment figures - not to actually benefit kids.

The national minimum wage for younger people is nowhere near enough to live on, let alone be able to save for property. The cost of living is not less just because you are younger.

16 + don’t need to stay in school - they can do an apprenticeship. However, strangely enough, most companies won’t take on under 18s because the additional safe guarding and insurance is such a massive pain in the backside. A classical education isn’t for everyone - but encouraging 16 year olds to leave school and do nothing isn’t great either. The government don’t want to hand out benefits to under 18s, partly because they haven’t paid in but also it’s not encouraging people to work. OP do you have a better idea?

Are you mad? Do you have a teenager?

Would you hire a 16 year old (my son's friends are lovely, but I wouldn't want them to work for me!).

I left school at 16 in 2005 and got a job. Saved for two years and went off travelling. It was amazing and I wouldn't change a thing.

Have you benefitted from further/higher education?

Lack of punctuation in the OP would indicate you have not.

we have a couple of 16 year olds at work

they are hard work, we are all being 'mum' at work these days. some days they are a liability

To be honest, I don’t consider eighteen year olds adults, I realise they are in the eyes of the law but I think it’s too young.

Oh good, another education bashing thread. There are enough underqualified and educated people in the workforce thanks very much. Great way to drive wages down. You're a genius OP 🙄

Would you hire a 16 year old (my son's friends are lovely, but I wouldn't want them to work for me!).

When did 16 year olds become unemployable? It's not so long ago that most people left school at 15-16, or even 14, and managed to hold down jobs.

And I think OP has a point - a young person who has been working and saving since 16 is by their mid 20s in a much better position than someone who only began to work full time at 21/22.

I have this convo regularly with my 14 year old. At 16 I was working full time and renting my own place.
Not saying that's right but when I painfully watch her doing the most basic of chores in a half arsed slow motion I wonder where I went wrong...

I joined the workforce at 14 and still stayed in school until 18 (and then university). Working and being educated are not mutually exclusive.

Your post really undermines your argument, to be honest. I wouldn’t hire someone who couldn’t write a few coherent paragraphs.

I absolutely agree op. Years and years of education doesn’t suit everybody. Many young people would rather be working and independent. Surprised to see a previous poster saying that 16 year olds are unemployable. I left school at 16, and was working in an office for five years before pursuing higher education as a mature student. Sad that people have so little faith in our young people.

18 is young enough.

Erm- where are all these teenagers moving to? There are barely enough affordable places for those already in their 20s and 30’s.

Would you hire a 16 year old (my son's friends are lovely, but I wouldn't want them to work for me!).

My DD and lots of her friends have been working since 15/16. She's been working in the NHS since 17. She's great, not all teens are hopeless.

We'd need wages and benefits to be adjusted accordingly - which is basically why the age was raised in the first place!

Nothing to do with what is best for young people everything to do with massaging unemployment figures.

I left school at 16 with few qualifications, not because I wasn't academic but because home was abusive and chaotic.

I went straight into full time work in what would now be a nmw job except there wasn't a nmw then so youngsters got ripped off left right and centre

What's also changed significantly since I was at school is the school curriculums are far more heavily weighted towards academic subjects. If they're gonna keep 16-18 year olds in school imo they need to also provide non academic education/training

In my day (fuck I sound old!) there were lessons in home ec, textiles, woodworking, metalwork, mechanics, technical drawing, childcare, first aid...

Which attracted many of the pupils who weren't necessarily academic people.

16 year olds needn't be and shouldn't be unemployable. That's not purely down to schools though, it's very much down to parenting too. Too many parents now coddle teens and don't expect them to do chores or take responsibility for...anything!

My dd used to moan about this aspect of my parenting, when she started working and particularly alongside others her age she understood better and was shocked at how useless some others her age were!

My parents both left school with zero qualifications at 14 and worked full time. Totally normal for their class and generation.

They'd have been considered an embarrassment if they were unemployable and it would very much have reflected on my grandparents

Erm- where are all these teenagers moving to? There are barely enough affordable places for those already in their 20s and 30’s.

This is another area where expectations are excessive and unrealistic.

I was one of several lodgers in the place I moved into when I moved out at 17

Lodging, house/flat sharing totally normal for young adults for many generations.

This very recent idea that you have to have bought your first home solo by the age of 30 is bonkers frankly!

Admittedly there's also the artificially high housing prices which is a whole other thread.

But this idea some have that even people in their 20's HAVE to have their own place is unrealistic

“This is another area where expectations are excessive and unrealistic.

I was one of several lodgers in the place I moved into when I moved out at 17

Lodging, house/flat sharing totally normal for young adults for many generations.

This very recent idea that you have to have bought your first home solo by the age of 30 is bonkers frankly!

Admittedly there's also the artificially high housing prices which is a whole other thread.

But this idea some have that even people in their 20's HAVE to have their own place is unrealistic”

Actually I was thinking about the price of rooms in shared houses. Hadn’t even considered the impossibility of 16 year olds buying houses.

I was one of several lodgers in the place I moved into when I moved out at 17

Lodging, house/flat sharing totally normal for young adults for many generations.

Yes, renting a room or rooms in someone else's house was common for single people of all ages and all social classes.

Or girls and women who moved to London (and maybe other cities) for work could live in hostels where they'd have a room with shared bathroom. And some workplaces, such as the big department stores, had staff living in.

@underneaththeash

Are you mad? Do you have a teenager?

Would you hire a 16 year old (my son's friends are lovely, but I wouldn't want them to work for me!).

Why not? I worked from age 16, in 2006 so not a million years ago either. I was working full time at age 17 and living away from parents. All teenagers are different, I grew up a lot faster than some did due to having a difficult childhood and home life. I was ready for work.

I agree with you OP. But I don't see things going back to how they used to be, unfortunately.

Actually I was thinking about the price of rooms in shared houses. Hadn’t even considered the impossibility of 16 year olds buying houses.

Fair point

Though certainly where I am house shares/lodgings aren't crazy expensive but I know different in other areas

My DS did an Apprenticeship age 17. He had started doing A levels at 6th form college but felt it wasn't really for him, and wouldn't be going on to Uni.

I think it was one of the best things he's done, he gained in confidence so much, he seemed so much more adult than his friendship group who had continued at school / college. An apprenticeship also means that the YP will get a qualification at the end, as well as earning while they are doing it.

It will be interesting to see as they get older what the long term impact financially is on those who studied to degree, they ought to get a better job, but some don't, and they have all the student loan debt.

I am probably biased because of how well it worked for DS (who is now 20 and still working where he did his apprenticeship) but I do think that non-academic outcomes should be encouraged more at 16 as the path of A levels / uni isn't for everyone .

I agree providing it does not become an excuse to lower wages or people sit around doing nothing.

We are not all academic, we undervalue manual skills, and perhaps it would be a step forward to solving some skill shortages.