Another talking point I think kind of gets glossed over in the 'nO oNe wANtS tO wOrk' conversation is the level of pessimism a lot of people have about the future.
Sure, raising wages is good, but a lot of these food, retail, and hospitality entry-level service jobs in the past were kind of billed to teenagers / young adults as a sort of temporary grind-- you are sort of expected to suffer in it for a few years while simultaneously pursuing higher education towards something better. To build character, work ethic, adulting in the real world, etc. All sorts of convenient spins to basically pay people as little as possible.
And a lot of people kind of bought into it as a sort of rite of passage of adulthood. Earning their place in the labor market for the pursuit of something better. People who were optimistic about their futures and felt like they were doing the mature and right thing.
Now with the cost of education and buying a home extremely out of reach for most young people, they've become disillusioned to the whole systemic process. What's even the point of getting a job at Subway? There's no chance of any upward mobility so why even bother at this point.
I remember even pre covid years ago, this same phenomenon kind of made waves in Japan, which has an extremely toxic salaryman work culture. Many young people in Japan just opted out, lived at home, too depressed about their prospects for the future.
It's not strictly a wage thing (although that certainly is a big part) but young people are disillusioned with the entire economic process, their outlook of the future is bleak, and are smart enough to realize there's no point unnecessarily suffering for shit that doesn't matter.
I worked retail for a decade and the worst part of it was how painfully dull and repetitive it was. Then, after weeks of plodding at doing boring work all of the paycheck goes toward bills and necessities. It's an exhausting, wretched, way to live.
I think seeing people die to COVID, especially retail workers, is making people realize their mortality and they don't want to waste their lives on this earth rotting away under fluorescent lights for about 200$ a week.
Yeah, it's weird how there is a huge depression epidemic to the point where I meet more people with it than without. Yet it's never discussed as such in our media. It was happening before covid too.
Another talking point I think kind of gets glossed over in the 'nO oNe wANtS tO wOrk' conversation is the level of pessimism a lot of people have about the future.
Sure, raising wages is good, but a lot of these food, retail, and hospitality entry-level service jobs in the past were kind of billed to teenagers / young adults as a sort of temporary grind-- you are sort of expected to suffer in it for a few years while simultaneously pursuing higher education towards something better. To build character, work ethic, adulting in the real world, etc. All sorts of convenient spins to basically pay people as little as possible.
And a lot of people kind of bought into it as a sort of rite of passage of adulthood. Earning their place in the labor market for the pursuit of something better. People who were optimistic about their futures and felt like they were doing the mature and right thing.
Now with the cost of education and buying a home extremely out of reach for most young people, they've become disillusioned to the whole systemic process. What's even the point of getting a job at Subway? There's no chance of any upward mobility so why even bother at this point.
I remember even pre covid years ago, this same phenomenon kind of made waves in Japan, which has an extremely toxic salaryman work culture. Many young people in Japan just opted out, lived at home, too depressed about their prospects for the future.
It's not strictly a wage thing (although that certainly is a big part) but young people are disillusioned with the entire economic process, their outlook of the future is bleak, and are smart enough to realize there's no point unnecessarily suffering for shit that doesn't matter.
Young Americans Are Choosing To Lie Flat
I worked retail for a decade and the worst part of it was how painfully dull and repetitive it was. Then, after weeks of plodding at doing boring work all of the paycheck goes toward bills and necessities. It's an exhausting, wretched, way to live.
I think seeing people die to COVID, especially retail workers, is making people realize their mortality and they don't want to waste their lives on this earth rotting away under fluorescent lights for about 200$ a week.
Hikikomerica
GOOD post. I am embarrassed the thought hadn't occurred to me already, but that's such an important insight.
Yeah, it's weird how there is a huge depression epidemic to the point where I meet more people with it than without. Yet it's never discussed as such in our media. It was happening before covid too.
Everyone I talk to wants so badly just to be able to rest
:cri: mood
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