Land of Opportunity...

"Many of these most basic of unskilled jobs are advertising $10/hour to some as high as $15/hour. Yet, many of these jobs go unfilled."

I had an interesting experience yesterday. Since we arrived home from a very well planned up north vacation, life has been a whirlwind. I had not even had time to top off the truck with gas and get all the dust washed off. I went over to my favorite gas station (where I get a discount from our grocery store), filled up, and then went in to pay before getting it washed. Right behind me were three young men, probably from Mexico, chatting it up with each other in Spanish. They looked to be on a lunch break and were wearing the uniform of some kind of lawn service.

After I paid, I got into the truck and pulled into the wash. I started thinking about these three young men. They were here either legally or illegally. My guess is they thought they died and went to Heaven. As I was waiting to pay for my gas and wash, there were signs all over the check out area, crying out for help wanted. They barely had one attendant to handle three registers, with the line being 8 folks long.

And it is not just at that gas station. My wife and I notice when we go out to grab a quick bite, there is no more fast food. Why? No people to serve. Every one of these restaurants have at least one "Help Wanted" sign hanging somewhere in the establishment.

Many of these most basic of unskilled jobs are advertising $10 to $15/hour. Yet, many of these jobs go unfilled. Is this the effect of the long predicted "birth dearth"? Maybe, or maybe not. We see young people all over just "hanging out". Plus we see more healthy looking young people panhandling - IN THE SUBURBS! Then my question becomes, why won't more young people jump head first into getting one of these summer jobs? When was a sixteen year old teenager, that was a right of passage. EVERYONE had some kind of part time job.

One of my friends told me that young people don't need to work today. They get enough to survive on from either Mom and Dad, or the government. They don't need to work, as everything they need has been provided to them. Hmm - interesting point. Come to think of it, I have seen that in my own neighborhood. 

When I was a young lad of fourteen, the ten speed bikes first started to appear in our town. Not very many, because they were very expensive (almost $100 back in the day). I wanted one so bad I could taste it. Even though there were some older folks in the neighborhood whom I shoveled and cut grass for, my Dad suggested I might try to get more.

He and my Mother helped keep track of the money I made doing yard work and snow shoveling. By the time I turned fifteen, I had just enough to buy the bike. And that is the way it went with my first motor scooter, car, and down the line into adulthood.

Necessity is the mother of invention. We have all heard that quote. My feeling - it was true way back then and should be true today. There is no reason on this planet why we have so many $10-$15/hour jobs going unfilled. None. Maybe it is true that Mexicans and folks from Central America are coming her to take the jobs that our young people will not. 

America continues to be the land of opportunity. Right now, there are a myriad of unskilled jobs to be had. Many of these jobs are ones that our current President said he created with his policies. Under different leadership, we should be able to get a glut of higher paying jobs instead. Ones that won't be snubbed by the un- or under employed.

Until we get our economy truly fixed, get used to the fact that fast food is no longer fast - only greasy, and usually the wrong order.