Comments on: Trying to Find a Job As A Teenager

By: Inkster

Inkster — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:05:45 +0000

When 11 years of age I was told I had to wait to 16 to work. Is this cruelty of a sort? What was denied here? I was very interested in radio and would have done after-school work at the neighborhood TV repair shop. Went to a technical school and by 17 had college prep and 1,200 hrs lecture and 1,200 hrs of lab in electronics; but I sure wanted to work at that repair shop.

By: Wiseburn

Wiseburn — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 00:19:24 +0000

Peter Schiff has put up a video argument against the minimum wage.
http://bit.ly/FOVUQ

he reminisces on ushers in movie theaters, bagboys at supermarkets who would carry groceries to your car, gas station attendants who pumped your gas, cleaned your windows and checked your tires and oil. and the replacement of telephone operators with voice mail.

I had the pleasure of meeting Peter in Las Vegas on Saturday.

By: windyridge

windyridge — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 01:59:51 +0000

You ask:”really want 15-year-old boys interacting with the public, no matter how much or little they are paid, when even one teenage-boy-style flip comment or sexual joke might result in a lawsuit?”. This possibility is not at all limited to a 15 year old boy. Plenty of adults can be rude and flip.
Fortunately for us, even though we live in a rural area of NY, my soon to be 17 year old had job offers with KFC and Burger King. He currently works for KFC. My soon to be 15 year old is working on a farm a few days a week and getting $8/hr plus meals. Minimum wage increases don’t appear to have affected the young or entry level folks here at all. Also I just recently got a good job after 15 years off to raise the boys. I am 50.

By: Ron H.

Ron H. — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 00:52:55 +0000

@stex: “But the Goverment can’t seem to figure out small factors like that in their wisdom when passing bills through Congress and the Senate.”

I don’t think raising the minimum wage has much to do with considering small businesses, or with economics at all, for that matter. It has everything to do with rewarding the unions who have made very generous contributions to a congressman’s campaign fund. Higher minimum wages means there are fewer lower paid non-union workers to compete with union workers. I believe the unions would like the minimum wage to equal the prevailing union wage.

By: stex

stex — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 12:12:24 +0000

I worked for a major waterpark in Texas durning late 1980’s early 1990’s as the head accountant of their two business, and durning the summer season which lasted 100 days, we would have 1,500 hundred teenagers working durning the day.. Some going to College, some working for their first real time in the workforce.

The company would factor in the min. wage number for a budget and calculate revenues for the year.

Not so easy for a small business trying to make it now in this current evironment.

It would be a job killer for me if I had a small business.

But the Goverment can’t seem to figure out small factors like that in their wisdom when passing bills through Congress and the Senate.

By: Rick C

Rick C — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 18:48:42 +0000

@ElamBend: “It is creating a structural system for ruining the rural economy.”

Well, that’s great for the urban planners who want us living in high-rises downtown so we can use light rail to travel, instead of the evil sprawl and car.

By: ElamBend

ElamBend — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 18:15:47 +0000

I can’t imagine how such a high minimum wage is working out in the rural area where I grew up. It’s shocking to me how fast the wage has been ratcheted up, particularly now that we are in a deflationary environment. I’m not sure how that area will ever recover under such circumstances. It will instead encourage more people to move away toward the jobs in urban areas. It is creating a structural system for ruining the rural economy.

By: Dr. T

Dr. T — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:25:41 +0000

Last year my 19-year-old daughter had no difficulty finding a job as a check-out clerk. This year she applied at eight places and didn’t get a nibble. The problem is partly the economy and partly the upcoming minimum wage increase. The other factor is that some full-time employees who normally take two or three week vacations in the summer are deferring the vacations. I think they are worried about getting laid off and are building up vacation pay. If my guess is correct, then the domestic vacation & tourist industry will get hammered again this year. (Last year it got hammered by the high gas prices.)

By: LoneSnark

LoneSnark — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:09:02 +0000

Yes, the rules have changed. Now only the criminal or the politically connected are exempt from the minimum wage.

By: tomw

tomw — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:50:06 +0000

What happened? Back when I was working as a busboy in a cafeteria, memory has it I made $.38/hr. Got a job as a pump jockey at the Sunoco, and made $.75/hr, running the place by myself from 6 to midnight. When the owners sold out, I asked for $1.25 an hour. I don’t think any of the above rates were at minimum wage.
It was explained to me that minimum wage only applied to interstate affected jobs. The job had to have something to do with interstate commerce for the minimum wage to apply.
Did the rules change?
FWIW, my opinion is that the minimum wage is used as a bleat of ‘helping the poor’ by the D party, regardless of the effect is has on inexperienced workers job seeking. If you think a bit more, D’s, you’d realize that the un-educated HS graduate that can’t spell will have a much better chance at ANY job if s/he is paid at a rate where the employer can at least break even… and they get some experience to move on up.
I’m so tired of the political preening that HURTS peoples’ lives.
tom