Cultural Effects of Loss of Labor

[Xenophon]

I was listening to the No Agenda podcast recently, and they brought up something I hadn't thought of before. The hosts were talking about the loss of manufacturing or other hard labor industries, and how this effected American youth. The gist of it is that since manufacturing and hard labor jobs have gone away for the most part, American teenagers don't have access to them either, causing the traditional "Protestant work ethic" to fall by the wayside.

This instantly made sense to me, given that you see a lot of entitled youngsters nowadays. Since they've not worked at a job requiring physical labor, they come onto the job market with these unrealistic expectations about the nature of work. Like this guy, for example:



Have any of you seen this? Being in education, I see this daily.

[Mercury]

I have seen this. I feel like I know this kid.

Mr. Noodles should fire him.

[TheReal_ND]

I've never found a shortage of hard labor jobs, but Texas is probably different than the rust belt concerning the job market. Pay on the other hand...

[Mercury]

I don't think the kid in the video would accept a hard labor gig, much less be able to do it.

Too soft, already.

The OP is on to something. What does society do with a glut of damaged goods who don't know how to work.

[Mercury]

I've never found a shortage of hard labor jobs, but Texas is probably different than the rust belt concerning the job market. Pay on the other hand...

I live in the rust belt. Believe it or not, employers here complain about not being able to fill entry-level positions all the time.

Though, for sure, they don't cap out like they used to.

[Martin Hash]

What does society do with a glut of damaged goods who don't know how to work.

This is going to be huge.

[MilSpecs]

The 'nature of work' must mean something different to different cohorts of kids. The protestant work ethic is alive and well here. The kids would think it was wildly unrealistic to expect to get a job that only requires 40 hours a week, that doesn't require a degree, near where you're from, that you can keep for years, and pays well with good benefits. I think those are unrealistic expectations. And yet half the country feels entitled to it. Instead of telling kids that they should do manual labor to develop a work ethic, we should be doing everything we can to instill a sense of drive and ambition back in our kids. And that means pushing them to do better than us, not the same as us.

[DrYouth]

Don't forget...

The robots are coming.



You think the work ethic is bad now...

We have shit to work out.

[Mercury]

The 'nature of work' must mean something different to different cohorts of kids. The protestant work ethic is alive and well here. The kids would think it was wildly unrealistic to expect to get a job that only requires 40 hours a week, that doesn't require a degree, near where you're from, that you can keep for years, and pays well with good benefits. I think those are unrealistic expectations. And yet half the country feels entitled to it. Instead of telling kids that they should do manual labor to develop a work ethic, we should be doing everything we can to instill a sense of drive and ambition back in our kids. And that means pushing them to do better than us, not the same as us.

Are they unrealistic?

Jobs like you those you describe are available in the trades.

[Mercury]

What does society do with a glut of damaged goods who don't know how to work.

This is going to be huge.

It certainly is.

Mass unemployment exacerbated by a segment of the unemployed that thinks those jobs which are available are beneath them.