Anonymous
Post 04/18/2026 18:17     Subject: Each year it is becoming more and more difficult for young people around 18 to earn decent money..
Anonymous wrote:That’s not my experience.

My 18 year old gets $16/hour plus tips and is scheduled so often, they have to beg for less shifts. They make close to $1500 a month. Not bad for a 12th grader.



My 16 year old made 18 an hour lifeguarding, and same for this upcoming summer and its pretty good when they only work 20 hours a week (they can pick up extra shifts if they want too).
Anonymous
Post 04/18/2026 18:16     Subject: Re:Each year it is becoming more and more difficult for young people around 18 to earn decent money..
Anonymous wrote:Why are 18 yr old expected to earn a living wage? Are these orphans or kids with deadbeat parents? Send them to college or trade schools.


Not all are blessed with rich parents or can afford college or trade school. Or, we have our kids work summers to get the experience and work ethic. With that said, not hard at all.
Anonymous
Post 04/18/2026 18:15     Subject: Each year it is becoming more and more difficult for young people around 18 to earn decent money..
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I call it total bs. Jobs are there but kids are too lazy to work. Mowing, dog walking, babysitting…etc.


The problem is again minimum wage. Would you rather hire a seasoned babysitter on care.com or a dog walking business or a teen who expects minimum wage? Unless you know the teen really well it's easier to hire someone seasoned for that much money an hour. For mowing you want a service or someone who has used a lawnmower for years to avoid injury. Years ago you hired teens because it was cheap and their parents weren't going to sue if they hurt themselves.


Huh?? VA's minimum wage is $12.77. I'd LOVE to hire a babysitter for that amount. A teen costs $20 an hour, a seasoned babysitter on care.com is $30. No one is paying minimum wage. Dog walkers get $25 for a half an hour walk. (I have a 4lb dog and we've had to negotiate because my dog is completely not interested in anything more than a 10 minute walk, so I want the rest of the time to be spent petting or throwing her toys for her).

I typically hire teens because my kids think they're fun.


You have to consider their time to get to your house and to the next job. So, its not just 10 minutes. Plus, if they are driving, driving expenses.
Anonymous
Post 04/17/2026 16:59     Subject: Re:Each year it is becoming more and more difficult for young people around 18 to earn decent money..
Why are 18 yr old expected to earn a living wage? Are these orphans or kids with deadbeat parents? Send them to college or trade schools.
Anonymous
Post 04/17/2026 16:57     Subject: Re:Each year it is becoming more and more difficult for young people around 18 to earn decent money..
Why so they need a job? Their parents will be paying for their college and give them an allowance every month. I think lower income adults need those jobs not, spoiled teenagers.
Anonymous
Post 04/17/2026 16:55     Subject: Each year it is becoming more and more difficult for young people around 18 to earn decent money..
Anonymous wrote:I call it total bs. Jobs are there but kids are too lazy to work. Mowing, dog walking, babysitting…etc.


Kids aren’t lazy at all. Many work, juggle school, a full slate of extracurriculars and family responsibilities.
Anonymous
Post 04/17/2026 16:52     Subject: Each year it is becoming more and more difficult for young people around 18 to earn decent money..
That’s not my experience.

My 18 year old gets $16/hour plus tips and is scheduled so often, they have to beg for less shifts. They make close to $1500 a month. Not bad for a 12th grader.

Anonymous
Post 04/17/2026 16:47     Subject: Each year it is becoming more and more difficult for young people around 18 to earn decent money..
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I didnt make "decent money" at 18. I was a college freshman. I worked on campus jobs like bookstore and dorm security for minimum wage. I worked at Target and babysat when I was home on breaks. It wasnt intended to be decent money it was just spending money. Are you saying those jobs dont exisit anymore?


They do not schedule more than 1-2 days a week.


This must be regional. We don’t live in the DMV anymore and my teen and his friends have no problem being scheduled more than one or two days a week. That makes zero sense to me. Looks like they might want to consider moving.


It is becoming an issue nationwide.


No, it’s not. Places can’t hire enough to make this work. There aren’t enough teens/early twenties willing to fill these spots. If my DS was willing to work more hours, they’d schedule him in a minute.
Anonymous
Post 04/14/2026 10:28     Subject: Each year it is becoming more and more difficult for young people around 18 to earn decent money..
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I didnt make "decent money" at 18. I was a college freshman. I worked on campus jobs like bookstore and dorm security for minimum wage. I worked at Target and babysat when I was home on breaks. It wasnt intended to be decent money it was just spending money. Are you saying those jobs dont exisit anymore?


They do not schedule more than 1-2 days a week.


This must be regional. We don’t live in the DMV anymore and my teen and his friends have no problem being scheduled more than one or two days a week. That makes zero sense to me. Looks like they might want to consider moving.


It is becoming an issue nationwide.
Anonymous
Post 04/14/2026 09:08     Subject: Each year it is becoming more and more difficult for young people around 18 to earn decent money..
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I call it total bs. Jobs are there but kids are too lazy to work. Mowing, dog walking, babysitting…etc.


The problem is again minimum wage. Would you rather hire a seasoned babysitter on care.com or a dog walking business or a teen who expects minimum wage? Unless you know the teen really well it's easier to hire someone seasoned for that much money an hour. For mowing you want a service or someone who has used a lawnmower for years to avoid injury. Years ago you hired teens because it was cheap and their parents weren't going to sue if they hurt themselves.


Huh?? VA's minimum wage is $12.77. I'd LOVE to hire a babysitter for that amount. A teen costs $20 an hour, a seasoned babysitter on care.com is $30. No one is paying minimum wage. Dog walkers get $25 for a half an hour walk. (I have a 4lb dog and we've had to negotiate because my dog is completely not interested in anything more than a 10 minute walk, so I want the rest of the time to be spent petting or throwing her toys for her).

I typically hire teens because my kids think they're fun.
Anonymous
Post 04/14/2026 09:05     Subject: Each year it is becoming more and more difficult for young people around 18 to earn decent money..
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I didnt make "decent money" at 18. I was a college freshman. I worked on campus jobs like bookstore and dorm security for minimum wage. I worked at Target and babysat when I was home on breaks. It wasnt intended to be decent money it was just spending money. Are you saying those jobs dont exisit anymore?


They do not schedule more than 1-2 days a week.


This must be regional. We don’t live in the DMV anymore and my teen and his friends have no problem being scheduled more than one or two days a week. That makes zero sense to me. Looks like they might want to consider moving.
Anonymous
Post 04/14/2026 09:02     Subject: Re:Each year it is becoming more and more difficult for young people around 18 to earn decent money..
Anonymous wrote:I remember a high school aged teenager offering to sell me a fake ID the summer before I entered the 9th grade and his main selling point was not to use it to purchase alcohol but to instead use it to acquire call center employment.


Are you from India?
Anonymous
Post 04/14/2026 08:38     Subject: Each year it is becoming more and more difficult for young people around 18 to earn decent money..
Mine has three on campus jobs (grader, TA, and library monitor) plus she tutors a HS kid weekly. She makes about $200 a week. She saves 15%, invests 20% and spends the rest on Chipotle mostly. She worked summer camps for the last four years and got a paid internship this summer. It has not been a problem.
Anonymous
Post 04/14/2026 08:14     Subject: Each year it is becoming more and more difficult for young people around 18 to earn decent money..
Anonymous wrote:I didnt make "decent money" at 18. I was a college freshman. I worked on campus jobs like bookstore and dorm security for minimum wage. I worked at Target and babysat when I was home on breaks. It wasnt intended to be decent money it was just spending money. Are you saying those jobs dont exisit anymore?


They do not schedule more than 1-2 days a week.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2026 17:35     Subject: Each year it is becoming more and more difficult for young people around 18 to earn decent money..
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I call it total bs. Jobs are there but kids are too lazy to work. Mowing, dog walking, babysitting…etc.


The problem is again minimum wage. Would you rather hire a seasoned babysitter on care.com or a dog walking business or a teen who expects minimum wage? Unless you know the teen really well it's easier to hire someone seasoned for that much money an hour. For mowing you want a service or someone who has used a lawnmower for years to avoid injury. Years ago you hired teens because it was cheap and their parents weren't going to sue if they hurt themselves.


This is based on where you live. I guarantee you all the teens make much higher than minimum wage for babysitting, lawn services, snow shoveling, etc. in our neighborhood. Now, that's maybe perhaps because the lawn businesses or care.com or whomever has to pay a high minimum wage, which drives up the overall cost of their business...and then results in high charges to the end customer.


Right! I mean we pay double to triple minimum wage just for babysitting.