Thanks for checking out the thread.
i'm 20 year olds and ive never worked full time due to being in part-time education since i was 16. However, recently ive had alot of problems with my employer over hours. Now currently i only have 3hrs of college a week, so ive had SIX DAYS availability at least, and my employer filled those 6days with a mere 6hours, cut into 2 shifts (3hrs) Bullsh!t i know. I just got "paid" and i had to go down to dole to get it topped up.
Now to the point. Ive found a 2nd job. It offer's me 16hrs p/w HOWEVER, those 16hrs are over 4 days (4hrs a day) when i asked WHY they had done that, her reply was "Its so we dont have to give you a break" she then continued to say "Its getting more and more popular to employ the young part-time and only have a handful of full-time jobs WHICH ARE GIVEN TO THE OLDER WORKERS.

Wait a minute...Did you just admit to running a biased workplace? Isn’t that...Oh what’s the word...Illegal? By using such a system you directly discriminate against youth. Not only this, if such a trend grows (and it is) People like me will be unable to attain financial independence. This means unable to move into rented property by yourself and/or afford the upkeep of a vehicle to get you from A to B. Also, the cost of getting to work can add up to about 3.20 per day, if not more and for what? to work ONLY four hours?
Employing people for 4hrs a day is wasteful. My "manager" from my 1st job is kicking up a fuss because i am no longer able to turn up for 3hrs a day (5pm-8pm) and even said he Couldn’t accommodate me on the rota (Despite being open 7days a week)

What can i honestly say? I'm shocked. Saddened even. There are no workers rights. It sickens me to see this sort of behaviour deemed acceptable by companies. Its not healthy for society either. Half the reason why so many people are on the dole is because the jobs out there don’t offer full time hours. Combine that with age-discrimination and you get a system geared up for people to fail.

I'm sorry if this turned into a rant or is posted in the wrong forum. I would love to hear the views from the people at ATS about this madness.

Is that so?

I'm 22 and I've been working 10 hour days since I was 18.

Originally posted by Chovy
Is that so?

I'm 22 and I've been working 10 hour days since I was 18.

I dont deny there are full-time young workers, i'm simply highlighting the fact that full-time jobs are being handed to older people instead of the young. It should be a fair balance IMO and will cause social problems if the trend grows. Can you imagine your children living with you into their late 20's?! no one wants that.

Originally posted by Lichter daraus
I'm a very experienced worker, i have had a few jobs since high school(graduated in '99), but still cant get the fish to bite.

Ah yes but the US is in the worst recession in nearly 100 years.
25% of its wealth gone and all the available work to go with it.

Its bound to be hard. And it won't get any easier until a couple of years after the recession. Ireland is in an even worse situation, a huge amount of my friends are in a similar circumstance.

Ah yes...college.

I carried a full class schedule and some of them were at night.
I was in the national guard, worked as a fencing laborer, dish washer for the lunch rush at a diner, stocker and checker at a beer and liquor store. (Not bad, I only got held up at gunpoint 2 times that last semester.)

There were other things that weren't as savory. You ever work with 5 other people to wrangle 20,000 live adult chickens into cages to ship to the slaughterhouse? ....Urg. I did that a number of times. Paid for most of my books.

My dorm was not co-ed. Back then none on campus were. They also checked bags at the entry to make sure we didn't bring in alcohol. I had the only first floor room in my building that was hidden from public view because there were a lot of large bushes outside to hide the power equipment on the side of the building.

I traded rooms with a guy who wanted a view and he paid me cash for the privilege.

I charged 3 bucks a case or for a full bottle of liquor to get alcohol into the building. Girls were five dollars to sneak in the first time and 2 after that. It always made good financial sense to keep the same girl even at that age.

I also had GI bill and got $147 a month from that.

I also worked as a tutor in return for the school giving me a break on meals at the cafateria and dorm rooms.

Aside from GI bill I paid about 85% of my education out of pocket and was happy to get it that low.

There are a lot of things a student in school can do to make cash. (within reason) Nothing was set in stone back then for me. I had to hustle to make ends meet but I did it.

Things are going back in that direction. We have squandered our advantages and will have to pay the price. We will have to earn what we get again.

Too much has been taken for granted and too many people are here expecting an easy ride and a cushy future just because they feel entitled to it or because they have watched somebody else coast by and think they deserve it too. Too many promises have been made by politicians in return for entitlements and votes.

Hard days are ahead and most of us are going to feel it. Learn to take what you can get and figure out how to get more elsewhere at the same time. Learn to save money and make it stretch.

As young people you have a luxury and it is called time.
Your responsibilities are less.
Your flexibility is more.

You still have time to build lives.


Don't let it get to you that the job market sucks and you can't find regular employment.

Be happy that you are young enough to do something about it.

We can sustain our economy and life style with everyone working 20 hours per week. Until we confront that fact head on, unemployment is going to continue to rise and yes young and old will all struggle to find gainful employment. We need a new paradigm in order to get out of this mess.

Originally posted by sligtlyskeptical
We can sustain our economy and life style with everyone working 20 hours per week. Until we confront that fact head on, unemployment is going to continue to rise and yes young and old will all struggle to find gainful employment. We need a new paradigm in order to get out of this mess.

Until people WANT to work more hours for MORE money, in return for MORE GOODS CONSUMED.

Then everyone else follows.

Spend more, work more.

Once the rich have acquired anything, they no longer have a need for workers. Hence, fewer jobs.

Oh, but all your past obligations and debts will be enforced, jobless or not!