Inevitable when various government policies make employing people so expensive.
LowProtection8515 on
When I was a teenager basically everyone i knew with a job worked in one of the shops in the shopping centre or in town.
Went to that shopping centre recently and it was an actual ghost town. Most units were empty and a good chunk of them had been boarded up/ decorated over so that it looked like thre were no units there.
Not surprised teenagers cant find jobs.
Fun-Exercise4164 on
i only have a weekend job because i work for my mum, i’ve been trying to find a proper one for ages
Lost-Activity6231 on
Yes social capital is more important than ever, it’s not what but who you know on steroids.
Prestigious_Spot9635 on
Interesting. I wonder how long this will go on for. I also wonder about bank of mum and dad.
It’s like years of abuse by businesses now clearly seen. For example why are there many non-english speakers working as deliveroo riders? These are perfect jobs for young people but we’ve given them away and no one dare questions deliveroo about it…
It’s a national crisis what young people are going through right now. And when starmer wants to introduce digital ID to make it difficult for employers to hire illegals these young people kick up a fuss lol.
TomVonServo on
It’s almost like the small retail core has been hollowed out by online shopping compounded by a wholesale refusal to adapt hours to modern life. Who would’ve thought?
Consistent-Pirate-23 on
It was the same in the 90s when I was that age. So many shops wanted weekends covered by existing staff and giving them a day off in the week. Teens were turned away because their weekday availability was hampered by school or college
VeryChineseTime on
It’s circular, adults have no money, kids have no money, nothing gets spent locally so shops close, now the kids can’t work because no shops so no money.
It’s fine, let’s invest more in London.
Cynical_Classicist on
So much for saying that young people have it too easy now.
_Taggerung_ on
I might be in the minority but I really struggled to find any part time jobs when I was a teenager and at university which was only in the late 2010s. The only people who were getting jobs were doing it through nepotism like the lad in the article. It might be worse now but it’s definitely not a new thing and it creates a real imbalance in society. Those who have family connections land a cushy part time job or apprenticeship whilst the rest of us have to start completely from scratch usually without success.
Several_Magician1541 on
It doesn’t help that issue when you bring in scores of low skilled temporary workers.
Qyro on
This has not been my experience at all. When I was job-searching last year, more than half the jobs I could find were weekend jobs.
Used-Eagle3558 on
And this is why Reform want to scrap the minimum wage for under 21s. Which we can’t let happen because it’s a slippery slope to all minimum wage being scraped
Hot_Mongoose_3741 on
I did it by getting a full time job early summer when I wasn’t studying and then after probation ended in September time drop availability down to weekends
aigroti on
The difficulty from my perspective was it’s impossible to get weekend only jobs.
All part time jobs that I ever saw want you available any day of the week or something like Saturday, Sunday and Thursday. So it makes it near impossible to do other stuff Mon-Fri. Whether studying or a different job.
LonelyStranger8467 on
Retail has declined. So that’s some jobs gone right there.
Then the retail jobs that do exist don’t need to hire teenagers with limited hours and schedules. They can hire people in their 20s and 30s. There’s all the foreign students who need part time jobs and those on graduate visas who end up working in Sainsbury’s and Tesco for 2 years.
Then there are many shops where you will not be employed unless you know the owner. Hiring is done purely within that community.
_L_R_S_ on
Father of a 20 year old daughter at University. She struggled for six months to get bar work as she had no experience. It didn’t matter she could say she was Duke of Edinburgh and was even then in the army reserves. No experience, not hiring you. Then managed to get a weekend job as a bar back. Soon moved to bar serving staff and now a quasi-supervisor.
Her experience of her peer group.
“They turn up late. They do one thing at a time and as slow as they possibly can. They’re unreliable. Phone in sick seconds before their shift. They bring relationship problems to work and then start new ones at work!”
This is her description, not mine. Although it’s been great experience for her for any workplace.
jupiterLILY on
This is so frustrating because where I live I can’t find somewhere that will let me have weekends off.
dmnksaman on
i didn’t have much luck finding a job in my area so applied for part time sainsbury’s and got assigned weekends (ridiculously busy days btw). they didn’t advertise it as weekends, just said 19 hours which doesn’t help. after my interview, the manager said she had FOUR other people to still interview for that job. absolutely bonkers.
remindfulmaverick on
I was 16 in 2009 and could not find a job either. Applied for hundreds, had a few interviews but never got given a chance. It’s always been difficult, is this news?
cooldude9112001 on
Not surprised my employer said every teenager they have ever hired are unreliable they don’t give a shit so why should they hire them.
Dark_Akarin on
Clearly they need to pull up their boot straps and get out there with a CV and demand to give it directly to the manager.
TheRegularBelt on
I just found jobs at uni after 6 months of searching. I’m exam invigilating this May and tutoring English Language GCSE.
becpuss on
Agreed I’ve got an 18 yr old eager to get a job but with no experience nobody takes a look he wants to start building savings for uni 🤷♀️.
fabezz on
Anecdotally, I’ve found a lot of the small shops in my area have mostly middle aged staff.
I think there’s compounding factors of both there being less entry level jobs over all and more adults failing to age out of them.
pinkwar on
Restaurants will welcome dishwashers at half the price. I’m sure they could work those jobs.
Still-Status7299 on
Maybe it’s just my area but ive seen hospitality hiring constantly
Aggravating_Pizza592 on
Unless you need to work I’d avoid it until after you finish your education. Part time work barely earns you anything anyway . If you can just ask your parents , that’s what they are there for . And then pay them back once you start earning in the future
spudds96 on
As others have said the jobs that used to exist that teenagers could apply for just don’t exist anymore and in tiny numbers
In general it’s also harder to find a general job now
Ok-Green-7162 on
Indians. You go into any McDonald’s, KFC, Tesco in London and it’s all Indians workers. The part time jobs that teenagers had even 5 years have now been taken by Indians. It’s upsetting.
30 Comments
Inevitable when various government policies make employing people so expensive.
When I was a teenager basically everyone i knew with a job worked in one of the shops in the shopping centre or in town.
Went to that shopping centre recently and it was an actual ghost town. Most units were empty and a good chunk of them had been boarded up/ decorated over so that it looked like thre were no units there.
Not surprised teenagers cant find jobs.
i only have a weekend job because i work for my mum, i’ve been trying to find a proper one for ages
Yes social capital is more important than ever, it’s not what but who you know on steroids.
Interesting. I wonder how long this will go on for. I also wonder about bank of mum and dad.
It’s like years of abuse by businesses now clearly seen. For example why are there many non-english speakers working as deliveroo riders? These are perfect jobs for young people but we’ve given them away and no one dare questions deliveroo about it…
It’s a national crisis what young people are going through right now. And when starmer wants to introduce digital ID to make it difficult for employers to hire illegals these young people kick up a fuss lol.
It’s almost like the small retail core has been hollowed out by online shopping compounded by a wholesale refusal to adapt hours to modern life. Who would’ve thought?
It was the same in the 90s when I was that age. So many shops wanted weekends covered by existing staff and giving them a day off in the week. Teens were turned away because their weekday availability was hampered by school or college
It’s circular, adults have no money, kids have no money, nothing gets spent locally so shops close, now the kids can’t work because no shops so no money.
It’s fine, let’s invest more in London.
So much for saying that young people have it too easy now.
I might be in the minority but I really struggled to find any part time jobs when I was a teenager and at university which was only in the late 2010s. The only people who were getting jobs were doing it through nepotism like the lad in the article. It might be worse now but it’s definitely not a new thing and it creates a real imbalance in society. Those who have family connections land a cushy part time job or apprenticeship whilst the rest of us have to start completely from scratch usually without success.
It doesn’t help that issue when you bring in scores of low skilled temporary workers.
This has not been my experience at all. When I was job-searching last year, more than half the jobs I could find were weekend jobs.
And this is why Reform want to scrap the minimum wage for under 21s. Which we can’t let happen because it’s a slippery slope to all minimum wage being scraped
I did it by getting a full time job early summer when I wasn’t studying and then after probation ended in September time drop availability down to weekends
The difficulty from my perspective was it’s impossible to get weekend only jobs.
All part time jobs that I ever saw want you available any day of the week or something like Saturday, Sunday and Thursday. So it makes it near impossible to do other stuff Mon-Fri. Whether studying or a different job.
Retail has declined. So that’s some jobs gone right there.
Then the retail jobs that do exist don’t need to hire teenagers with limited hours and schedules. They can hire people in their 20s and 30s. There’s all the foreign students who need part time jobs and those on graduate visas who end up working in Sainsbury’s and Tesco for 2 years.
Then there are many shops where you will not be employed unless you know the owner. Hiring is done purely within that community.
Father of a 20 year old daughter at University. She struggled for six months to get bar work as she had no experience. It didn’t matter she could say she was Duke of Edinburgh and was even then in the army reserves. No experience, not hiring you. Then managed to get a weekend job as a bar back. Soon moved to bar serving staff and now a quasi-supervisor.
Her experience of her peer group.
“They turn up late. They do one thing at a time and as slow as they possibly can. They’re unreliable. Phone in sick seconds before their shift. They bring relationship problems to work and then start new ones at work!”
This is her description, not mine. Although it’s been great experience for her for any workplace.
This is so frustrating because where I live I can’t find somewhere that will let me have weekends off.
i didn’t have much luck finding a job in my area so applied for part time sainsbury’s and got assigned weekends (ridiculously busy days btw). they didn’t advertise it as weekends, just said 19 hours which doesn’t help. after my interview, the manager said she had FOUR other people to still interview for that job. absolutely bonkers.
I was 16 in 2009 and could not find a job either. Applied for hundreds, had a few interviews but never got given a chance. It’s always been difficult, is this news?
Not surprised my employer said every teenager they have ever hired are unreliable they don’t give a shit so why should they hire them.
Clearly they need to pull up their boot straps and get out there with a CV and demand to give it directly to the manager.
I just found jobs at uni after 6 months of searching. I’m exam invigilating this May and tutoring English Language GCSE.
Agreed I’ve got an 18 yr old eager to get a job but with no experience nobody takes a look he wants to start building savings for uni 🤷♀️.
Anecdotally, I’ve found a lot of the small shops in my area have mostly middle aged staff.
I think there’s compounding factors of both there being less entry level jobs over all and more adults failing to age out of them.
Restaurants will welcome dishwashers at half the price. I’m sure they could work those jobs.
Maybe it’s just my area but ive seen hospitality hiring constantly
Unless you need to work I’d avoid it until after you finish your education. Part time work barely earns you anything anyway . If you can just ask your parents , that’s what they are there for . And then pay them back once you start earning in the future
As others have said the jobs that used to exist that teenagers could apply for just don’t exist anymore and in tiny numbers
In general it’s also harder to find a general job now
Indians. You go into any McDonald’s, KFC, Tesco in London and it’s all Indians workers. The part time jobs that teenagers had even 5 years have now been taken by Indians. It’s upsetting.