Cost of living. Teens with no jobs

[monkeysox]

The whole COL crisis is exacerbated by huge supermarket chains (one example) who are making huge profits. They don't employ as many young people (automation) so the cost of the kid's needs falls on the parents who have huge bills themselves.
I always had a Saturday or evening job.
Businesses aren't hiring nearly as much as 30 years ago.
Aibu?

Personally I disagree. The work should be compensated fairly no matter who is doing it. I worked in an ice-cream shop for £2.70 an hour in 2004 when I was 15. It was absolutely rubbish!
I'd spend most of my weekend there and just about be able to afford a CD album, a slice of pizza with my friends and the bus fare too and from my house with loose change left over.

If firms have installed these self check out machines and similar they should be taxed as if they are employing 3 staff, the money would go towards unemployment payments

My hairdresser does, she often agrees to continue to employ them throughout their training at the local college as well so they have somewhere to practice what they learn under supervision and they also learn how to run a business and communicate with customers. Just 3 out of 4 Saturdays, so not loads of time.

My DD (now 18) has been working for our local youth club for adult minimum wage since she turned 16 and before that she volunteered with them. It’s only a few hours a week alongside sixth form but gives her some spending money for things like meals out and birthday presents for her friends.

This is the case for my area and I’m in West London. Tesco is exclusively staffed by what we assume are quite recent Indian immigrants. The other small supermarkets are similar.

Not sure what platform(s) they advertised on, but that kind of response is overwhelming and will have a lot of non relevant applications.

Part of the issue (maybe a sideline to the main topic under discussion) is the ‘easy apply’ function on job boards.

it enables people to whack in an application to tons of jobs, whether or not they actually match the requirements.

I often hear people on tv saying they have made hundreds of applications to jobs and my immediate thought is that they cannot possibly be a good match to that many.

a spray and pray approach is not helpful to a job seeker and the job boards have made this the typical M.O.

There are plenty of jobs for teenagers, as long as you are flexible in the work you will apply for!

I know that care homes / supported living providers are desperate to recruit staff, as are council highways (or PFI providers) who offer apprenticeships.

There is also chambermaid/ hospitality work too!

There are also vacancies in engineering and cybersecurity apprenticeships.

I live in west London and my 16 year old son (year 11) applied for a weekend job in our local
pub via their brewery’s website. Computer said NO. We asked the manager in person - and he offered my son a job on the spot. He now works two shifts a week and takes home around £400 a month. My 14 year old has a Sunday morning paper round earning £40 a month. They are both extremely lucky to have those jobs. As others have said it’s all about the face to face contact, the personal reaching out, sometimes over a number of months. AI just stops online applications in their tracks.

it’s very very difficult now compared to when I was a teen starting part time work at age 13 on a Saturday back in the 80’s.

I’m in my early 60s.
My first Saturday job, in retail, paid £4, for 8.45 am to 6pm (not per hour)
As the youngest, I got the last lunch break, 2 to 3pm, the older ones treated me like a skivvy.
When I returned from my lunch break, it was 2 hours of cleaning.
As part of the job, retail workers, back then, had to do the cleaning of floors, shelves etc, when there were fewer customers.
There were no rights.
I’d rather the current set up.

There are other types of jobs. Apprenticeship for hairdressings or electrical, plumbing builders , gas, fire service hotels etc.Theres teaching assistant training and lsas too. look wider than just the supermarket opposite to a more long term career. Also there’s bar work for the older teens. Paper rounds still exist. There’s tutoring on line for students who have alevels or higher. That involves getting dbs check or joint a company to employ you. Also Aldi always seems to be employing and pay well! Most schools have excellent careers advice so before a child leaves they can find out about types of career even perhaps a Saturday employment. I think some shops employ Christmas staff too.

DS2 is just 19 and has been working on and off since he left school and started college at 16.

Him and a lot of his friends with jobs work cash in hand, so no contract and they’re used just as needed. They got the jobs from asking their friends who’ve worked at shops/restaurants/cafes etc when someone’s left and go and talk to them with their CV. Obviously the employers shouldn’t be doing it, but at the end of the day the young people can earn some money and get work experience. They get paid minimum wage for their age. All these places are small and independently owned.

I helped him apply online for jobs a few times over the last couple of years and he mostly didn’t even get a reply even though he’s got decent work experience.

The only people I know who seem to reliably get contracted work at this sort of age is those who train as life guards. They don’t always get the hours they need but they do get work and it’s well paid.

I hear you. I'm struggling. Not helped by the fact that I have an extra teenager living with me right now. My kids are constantly applying for stuff. At their age, I was a waitress, a babysitter, and I'd started training in a pub. They have had zero replies from anywhere.

I worked full time( 730 am till 600 and two nights over as a teen for £1 an hour and that included two nights over no more than the£1 an hour and a Saturday morning unpaid. However it was the best job and I loved it. I learnt so much and my employers were lovely people. However, I haven’t worked so hard since as they wanted me to do a lot. It was very hard but if you want the work sometimes you have to get low pay and hard job.Do teens appreciate that now?

Disagree. Saturday girls in hairdressers deserve £10.85 an hour, in the one I go to, they also answer phones, make appointments and wash hair, replenish towels, and keep other things stocked like the shampoos. Maybe businesses should just accept this is the cost of being a business? And doubly so for the likes of the big supermarkets who make millions a year in profits. They can afford to pay decent wages, they'd just rather squeeze the workers until the pips squeak and keep their shareholders happy. I notice they were all bleating recently about the fact that NI went up, but never have anything to say about the fact that because most of their employees are on UC to top up insufficient wages, the taxpayer is actually subsidising their profits.

It’s played a big part - my DC had part time jobs during A levels at a motorway McDonald’s. As soon as the min wage/NI went up their hours were cut to the bone…

Years ago and Im talking 40+ years ago, retail staff worked Mon-Fri and schoool/college students worked Saturdays - shops were closed on Sundays. It seems nowadays weekend work is commonly part of a normal retail role so there's fewer opportunities for kids to get Saturday jobs - maybe ?

My seventeen year old DD has lost count of the entry level jobs she’s applied for. She’s in London. I think it’s a combination of automation, age, restricted working hours/conditions for under 18s, lack of experience … because she can’t get hired, minimum wage in London being pretty high. She’s getting so disheartened. It’s much harder for youngsters now

This is sad. 3 years working there and when his pay went us, they let him go 😢

My DD is 18 and has Saturday/holiday jobs since she was 14. She has done retail and hospitality. They are out there as long as kids firstly look and apply in time and not once seasons have started and recruitment peaks have finished. It’s no good trying to walk into a job once summer has started for example.
Secondly the kids need to get out there and apply themselves. They need to be the ones phoning around, walking into places and asking, and doing it well. When we had a cafe the number of mums who came in and asked, or dragged a grunting teen in to ask was astounding. They were all given a no. The polite young man who, at 14, walked in with a smart CV and asked nicely got hired within a couple of days.

I think many firms feel they can't justify employing people with no experience on the new higher minimum wage. If they are paying that much they want someone experienced.

And in this job market there are plenty of experienced workers out there competing for what might have previously been jobs done part time by teens.

They were taking experienced staff at that wage rate when it was a few quid above minimum, so they aren't going to risk lowering the calibre of staff for the same amount of money. As it costs more to train them.

It also raises the issue of retention as when they promote them there's less money in the wage pool to give a significant increase. So a supervisor used to earn, say £5 more ph than their staff, now it's only £2.50.

I heard thats how a lot of hospitality businesses feel. So I can imagine retail most be similar.

It's crazy. I hate that everything is automated. More and more entry level/ low skill/ casual jobs are disappearing. How are teenagers supposed to find any part time work? How are they going to learn basic job skills/ etiquette - turn up time, be presentable, clean, reliable, polite, clear in your communications, follow instructions, get on with co-workers. It sounds really basic but these are useful life/ job skills.

Both my teens have worked in hospitality since the age of 15. DS is now 20 and works for a supermarket which has a student contract so he switches it between our home town and his uni town. It's been brilliant.
My dd is 18 and does shifts at a local wedding venue. Neither of them have found it hard to get work. We are in a relatively small town though so I think that maybe the competition isn't as high.

My DH runs a business which employs 40 staff. They recently recruited for an IT position. I would suggest that 80% of the applicants had non British names. Their applications were generally far higher quality than more British sounding names.

My in laws also have a business connected to agriculture - they really struggle to recruit local people or even British people.

YANBU.

Most of my generation had part time jobs in local/independent businesses like corner shops, Bed & breakfasts, cafes/restaurants, milk men, leaflet deliveries, paper deliveries etc. Hundreds of thousands of such businesses have closed in the last few decades.

The likes of big supermarkets, Amazon, Travelodge, chain restaurants etc don't take on young school kids.

Partly because of the new laws that were introduced to "protect" youngsters in the workplace, i.e. not allowed to work in kitchens under a certain age, not allowed to work early mornings at a certain age, some councils requiring employers to get approval for each person from the local authority before hiring them, etc.

But also because they prefer adults on zero hours contracts.

Sadly this is what happens when "big business" takes over aided and abetted by politicians who are out of touch with reality. Proposed minimum wage hike for youngsters is the final kick in teeth.

Yes same here a bit further out

As long as you're not blaming immigrants, then no. But we are a victim of our own selfishness, to be honest.

I work for a very well known fashion retailer, we use to take on college students for evening work also agency work, since last October, we have let all our agency and students go, they is also no overtime for us!!!