SOCIOLOGY 377
Youth in the Labour market
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* stagflation >
-
bad time
economy grow slowly + inflation .
1970
+ energy
shortage >
delivery retail childcare
MCJOBS
-
, ,
# 1
+making Cmenwhighschool education
orless)
▪ Low end jobs in the service industry
▪ Like McDonald’s itself McJob connotes low quality
▪ Easily replaceable parts
▪ People are put into an existing process or system
▪ Typically no real possibility of further grow
▪ Youth are staying in school longer
▪ Still end up starting out in McJobs
- sandwich generation sandwiblwsbig conort-mi-boomer
-
▪ Gen X (1963-1980) complained that the glut of
Baby Boomers (1945-1962) left them with only
McJobs
▪ The term has somewhat fallen out of use but many
Millennials also found themselves in McJobs
* Long hour (service industry jobs with little room for
* Salary
promotion)
* only wired 4 year degree person makes itseem more
--
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professionalized
.
YOUTH EMPLOYMENT
Aggregate economic conditions
more likely to affect youth workers
Youth workers are often the last
hired, so they are the first fired
Companies tend to keep the most
experienced, competent and well
connected workers in downswings
Less hiring of new employees
during a downswing
Even internships (paid and unpaid)
tend to decline in downturns
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ENTITLEMENT?
L foss a Milennials
world-life balance -
excess of the baby-boomer
(work for long-hour
▪ Youth perceive as lazy
▪ Want something for nothing
▪ Want good wages from the start
▪ Don’t want to “climb the ladder”
▪ Seen as entitled
▪ This position has little merit
I
- start laten and
earn less
.
cultural ▪ Youth wages have declined relative to both
attitudes inflation and the wages of older workers
L
stress different
thing.
7
CHANGES IN EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS
▪ Only 18% of Gen Z teens (ages 15 to 17) were employed in 2018, compared with
I
27% of Millennial teens in 2002 and 41% of Gen Xers in 1986.
▪ Among young adults ages 18 to 22, while 62% of Gen Zers were employed in 2018,
higher shares of Millennials (71%) and Gen Xers (79%) were working when they
were a comparable age.
▪ Pew Research (What We Know About Gen Z So Far | Pew Research Center)
reflection of more degree
·
>
-
SLOW LIFE PLAN
WHERE GEN Z AND MILLENNIALS WANT TO WORK
mostly in tech
WHAT YOUTH WANT FROM WORK
-workplace flexible
f
-
-
&
work
from
noure
WHAT THEY DON’T WANT
WHAT THEY NEED IN THE WORKPLACE
lanxious -
approval gen)
purpose-driven want the money
o being judged/driven
flexibility -
frexible hour .
2
shift from genx and mirennials :
mobility +exp -Salary
s
▪ 54% of Gen Zers say that salary is what they consider the most when
applying for their first full-time jobs. (EHS Today, 2019)
▪ Gen Zers prefer to pursue long-term careers and see themselves
working for an average of four companies in their professional life.
(BuiltIn, 2021) > career aren' built in one place
-
▪ 21 of Gen Zer said that they want a stable schedule and 23% expect
vane/
Of that they would also be offered flexible schedules by their employers.
(EHS Today, 2019)
flexibility
STATS ON GEN Z
▪ 51% of iGeners said they would stay longer with a company if they
enjoy the work they do, and 51% revealed that a competitive salary is
also a reason for them to stay longer in a company. (EHS Today, 2019)
AND WORK ▪ 73% of Gen Zers aspire to turn their hobbies into full-time jobs.
(BuiltIn, 2021)
▪ 77% of Gen Zers are more likely to apply for a job in companies that
value diversity. (BuiltIn, 2021) LLGBTQ diversity)
* model of Bromas >
company man
-
▪ 75% of Gen Zers revealed that they would like to explore different
(workfor roles in an organization than switch companies. (BuiltIn, 2021)
30 -
40 years)
work there foryour whore career ! ▪ A company’s impact on society affects their decision to be part of the
organization according to 93% of Gen Zers. (BuiltIn, 2021)
▪ 60% of Gen Zers prefer having cool products more as perks than
experiences. (BuiltIn, 2021)
* social justice is
important to genz .
61% of the iGeneration influences
would choose to be an >
-
entrepreneur over being > workfor themsel
-
an employee upon
graduating from college. > flexibility !
-
(Workplace Intelligence)
54% of Gen Zers prefer
starting their own
MORE STATS companies than working
for one. (Forbes, 2020)
75% of Gen Zers aspire to
turn their hobbies into full-
time jobs. (BuiltIn, 2021)
# lower youth employment + 2x unemployment rate
.
* economic structure at will
- employment .
leasy to fire some one
▪ In countries that have relatively flexible labour laws like
Canada, US, UK, youth unemployment tends to be lower
▪ It is relatively easy to fire someone in
▪ 90 day “trial period” for new employees where they can
be fired without cause
▪ Even afterwards pretty low bar for dismissal. leven if unfair)
▪ Low job security for youth
THE GREAT CATCH-22 ▪ Countries like France and Germany have less flexible
labour laws
(Greece , ▪ Very difficult to fire someone once they have been hired
(
Italy
L risk for employer Lunionized industry)
.
▪ The result is that youth tend not to be hired
▪ They are seen as unreliable
▪ They are a risk for employers
▪ Leads to higher youth unemployment rates
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FLOUNDERING THESIS?
struggle injob market areto young ↑
Lemerging adult) & build career
.
▪ Youth failure to find gainful employment is
linked to the qualities of youth rather than the
labour market
▪ Youth are not responsible enough when they
finish high school to get on a career track
▪ They only care about social lives (partying)
Lunreliable
▪ Jump from job to job
L short turn around (churu)
▪ As a result employers want to wait until these
people mature
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▪ Tannock argues that employer perceptions
of youth play a decisive role youth
employment patterns
THE COUNTER- ▪ Because no one will hire them, they take
series of unfulfilling “McJobs”
ARGUMENT ▪ They jump around because they get
frustrated with high demand low return jobs
(TANNOCK) ▪ Perpetuate the cycle
▪ The system itself is the reason
work
long .
term for bad job
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▪ Prior to the 1980s youth tended to start their
careers primarily in the public sector or in
blue-collar trades like manufacturing
▪ Health, education or public service
(bureaucracy)
▪ Typically decent wages and benefits
PATTERNS OF ▪ From the 1970s there was increasing
competition first from Japan, then the Asian
Tigers, the china
EMPLOYMENT ▪ This pattern shifted in the 1990s to the
service sector
▪ Service, sales, clerical
▪ Poor wages and poor benefits
▪ Transient workforce
▪ Little room for advancement
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PART-TIME
▪ Youth market dominated by part-time work
▪ Low wage but high stress
▪ Increased push toward standardized customer
service responses
▪ Carefully worded greetings
▪ Ways of responding to customer service failures
▪ Schemes to get employees excited (picnics, prizes,
Christmas parties)
▪ The idea is that if you like the people you work with
you stay longer
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STRESS
▪ Stresses of having to deal with the
public
▪ Have to enforce company policy
that they don’t actually control
▪ Stress of dealing with managers
▪ Power trips
▪ Younger employees often treated
unfairly
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INTERNSHIPS
▪ More and more youth are entering unpaid
or low paid internships
▪ It promises experience, references,
networking opportunities, gaining new
skills
▪ Very seldom do people directly enter paid
work from internship
▪ Just makes their lives more unstable
▪ They often have to live with their parents
▪ Sometimes need to have jobs on the side
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HARASSMENT IN THE
WORKPLACE
▪ Despite the increase in laws
governing sexual harassment it still
occurs at a high rate
▪ 87% of women reported some type
sexual harassment
▪ Two types:
▪ Quid pro quo: Sex exchanged for
continued employment or
advancement
▪ Poisoned work environment
▪ Work is sexualized
▪ Women’s attractiveness is judged as
a quality in hiring/advancement
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WORKPLACE SAFETY
▪ Young people are at some of the highest
risk of getting injured on the job
▪ Seldom unionized
▪ Usually in unskilled work
▪ Poor safety training due to high turnover
▪ Chaotic “just in time” working conditions
▪ Subject to crime (robberies in retail)
▪ Usually blamed for their own problems
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EDUCATION AND WORK
▪ Typically thought of as a good thing
for youth to work and gain experience
while in school
▪ Educational outcomes seem to decline
if youth work for 20 hours/week or
more in menial, boring jobs
▪ Fewer hours or interesting work result
in positive outcomes
▪ When school and work is combined
young people may be engaged
between 50-60 hours a week
▪ Adult wage work is typically 37-40
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EDUCATIONAL INFLATION
& CREDENTIALISM
▪ Entry level jobs that once did not require a
university or other secondary degree now do
▪ Some say a Master’s Degree is the new Bachelor’s
degree
▪ Low-skill jobs are demanding people with a post-
secondary degree
▪ Becomes a sort of base credential
▪ The purpose of education shifts from being about
bettering students to providing them with
credentials
▪ Educational inflation means that even a relatively
high level of education has less value
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Audience Q&A Session
ⓘ Start presenting to display the audience questions on this slide.
▪ Long term youth unemployment had effects
down the road
▪ Lost of wages
▪ 6 months of unemployment at 22 meant 8
percent decrease in wages at 23
LONG TERM EFFECTS ▪ Even at 32-33 wages were 2-3 percent lower
than otherwise
OF UNEMPLOYMENT ▪ A year of unemployment at 22 impacted
wages 13-22 percent twenty years later
▪ Detrimental psychological effects of early
unemployment
▪ Less general happiness, job satisfaction,
lower wages and worse health outcomes
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