I'm not inside my own mind today... Thank the Globe and Mail for that.
After reading a recent article about Canada's 14.8% Youth Unemployment Rate... It got me to thinking, WHY could this be such an issue? I'm a youth, I'm turning 25, I've never had a problem finding a job and I'm even going to start attending university in September. Why are so many youth's having difficulties?
Could it be that they're lazy, unmotivated products of the Soccer Mom Generation that's coddled them to this point? Now that they're released unto the world that will NOT pat their bottoms and bend to their every whim like mommy did, they're finally getting a much needed reality check.
Could it be that the youth lack the drive, work ethic and attitude that employers want to see in potential employees? That they will turn to "mature" workers that they know will work for the money they're earning as opposed to a youth who doesn't even value the job they're trying to get?
The article in question centers around what it refers to as NEET's, Youth that are not in education, employment or training. It's actually kind of coincidental to me that this very angle the Globe is using to paint this sympathetic view of today's youth is the same angle I am using to show that Canada's youth today are lazy, unmotivated, and apathetic at large. As a youth who formerly, had no interest in going to university, it's a completely valid argument. High School destroys the drive to be educated in many teenagers (an entirely different argument all together) and it's hard to acknowledge that post-secondary education by and large is an entirely different beast. Training for jobs? You usually have to pay for that... so why bother?
The dangerous paradigm this creates is that, obviously, not ALL youth fall into this category. It's the gym class theory of one student ruining it for the entire class. We've all been there, working with someone in their late teen's or early twenties who simply coasts along. Let me rifle off some quotes and tell me if you've heard any of these ones before?
"I'm tired, I can't wait to go home..." - after they just got to work.
"Yeah I still live with my parents."
"I don't really plan on going to school" - even I was guilty of this for a long time.
Or a personal favorite "I'm going to get so stoned after work..."
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for an after work buzz on but I guess it depends on your priorities. When you get to work and all you think about is going home and getting high, there's an obvious lack of work ethic, or desire to work.
Could this percentage of Canadians (youth) who have been out of work for a year or longer be driven by the fact that they don't HAVE to work? That they still live in their parent's houses and they don't even need to pay rent? Could it be driven by the fact that many youth today simply don't show any drive to WANT to work? How are employers going to be anxious to hire a young person today when they see the younger people coming (and going) and barely working for their wages?
What about youth who barely persist to find a job? It surprises me the amount of people who have this to say about job hunting, "Well... nobody ever calls me."
OF COURSE THEY'RE NOT GOING TO CALL YOU! They want you to call them! Employers want to see that a potential employee WANTS to work. The article of course makes no attempt to even justify that youth ARE trying to find work and failing, just that they simply can't find work and they use one Winnipeg citizen as an example of a youth struggling at large to find work without any kind of justification to show HOW he's in the boat he's in. Granted, I should be pissed at shitty journalism over shitty youth but that's, again, a different argument for a different blog entry.
I was fortunate to get called up, and hired in the same day for a job ad I responded to on Kijiji. They saw I had a lot of cooking experience and coincidentally they needed a cook. On the side of that, I was courting (yeah I am using that term) three other potential employers for work. That's an example of my drive to work, and find work. Other than when I was living in Stellarton/New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, (which has a terrible economic state by the way) I've never had a problem finding work.
I'm sure anyone could think off the top of their head of a youth they work with, or have worked with who exemplifies a lack of values in work ethic. It's not rocket science at all. The youth aren't finding jobs because they don't WANT to. There are other factors, again, not all youth are at fault, but it's the ones that simply don't give a fuck that are ruining it for the ones that are trying to build their futures outside of their parent's basements. The 14.8% Youth Unemployment is a skewed statistic that lacks any kind of analysis but then again, I shouldn't be surprised coming from The Globe and Mail.
Until next time,
PEACE!
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