Is this a true reflection of how the US is going?

[Trenchcoat]

Here is an interesting YouTube video I watched the other day. The guy in the video is a bit pee'ed off to say the least. Generation X guy by the looks of it like myself. Anyway, he blames it on new lazy Gen Z workers many of which are apparently ambitious but lazy whores eager to climb the career ladder without doing anything other than spreading their legs. See what you think:



He seems pretty upset by it all I think 🤔

[Bee Farmer]

I only watched a few minutes.

You need to understand the context.

A warehouse distribution job is a VERY low skill, entry level job.  It is a step up from flipping burgers at a fast food joint.  He describes it as a good job because it paid $14 or $15 an hour and he could work 60 or 70 hours a week.  (That is big money and a good job compared to flipping burgers.)

The people who work warehouse distribution jobs are people who have very limited options.  High school dropouts, criminals after release from prison, or lazy bums who can't get a job anywhere else, plus a few guys who didn't go to college after high school who work there a few years before getting a better job.  This is not a job you would make a career at unless it was the only job in town that was better than flipping burgers.  In the late 2000-teens, this work would have paid around $16 an hour.

A forklift driver is a lateral move.  The pay is about the same, but he doesn't have to bust his back handling stuff.

This is a reflection of low income America, especially in people who have a union worker mentality who thinks a company should care how many years they have worked a job, regardless how low value the job is.

Imagine someone who has a job picking up litter along roads...and them working hard at that job for 12 years and wondering why they are not getting anywhere in life.  That's basically the same situation as the guy in the video.  Anyone with any brains would have quit that job a long time and and found a better job.

[olgac]

Agree with Bee Farmer on the nature of warehouse jobs but I think the main change that happened over the years is that
a blue collar guy can no longer support a family on a single income. The standard of living went way down.

Ad far as educated jobs like mine or my husband's we have never had problems with corporate america at all.
We never did open our own business just worked for big tech and startups. Usually had company stock too
so if the company did well, we benefited financially. One of the companies I worked for got sold, 3 did IPOs.
So I am the last one to complain about corporate America If You are hard to replace, they do appreciate You and pay
You well. If you aren't a skilled worked, like Bee Farmer pointed out, they will not increase Your salary as You
can be easily replaced by any new high scool gaduate.

[Trenchcoat]

Thank you Beefarmer & Olga for your contributions, it's interesting to see how things are in the US. Here in the UK it's a little different, most jobs aside from those that require excellent/suburb Maths ability, top level IT, etc are all much the same pay. I mean there may be a slight variation in what someone's taken home pay is after tax is or even before tax but it's usually nothing all that substantially different. Few people earn especially good money unless in a pretty good number which is rare.

Like the US birth rates are plummeting through the floor. Pay is generally low for most and housing costs are high.

I can see a time when people will fall out of love with careers, corporate culture, etc some probably already are. Generation Z seem a different bunch to the more corporate orientated Millennials & Generation X. I don't think a lot of Generation Z have a lot of interest in it and to some extent I don't blame them but a fair number of Employers are complaining a fair bit about Generation Z and their attitude to work.

Will be interesting to see how this develops in the workplace going forward I think.

[2tallbill]

Thank you Beefarmer & Olga for your contributions, it's interesting to see how things are in the US. Here in the UK it's a little different, most jobs aside from those that require excellent/suburb Maths ability, top level IT, etc are all much the same pay. I mean there may be a slight variation in what someone's taken home pay is after tax is or even before tax but it's usually nothing all that substantially different. Few people earn especially good money unless in a pretty good number which is rare.

Will be interesting to see how this develops in the workplace going forward I think.

Those US entry level jobs $16 per hour or $33,280 per year  (£26,399.03) are just for
those who don't have the ambition to continue moving to something better. In the USA
people keep moving up the ladder. The American dream is alive and well.

The person working in a warehouse didn't have a plan. You don't work in a warehouse
for the same company for 12 years without a promotion. You learn skills take some
management classes and become a warehouse manager then you learn logistics
and become a logistics manager. Next step is to operations manager.

You just need to continually build yourself up to jobs with increasing skills and
responsibilities.

Logistics managers make between $75,000 and $100,000 and operations managers
make $119,888 per year on average, with the 75th percentile reaching around
$133,392 per year. OR you can just sit on a forklift for 30 years and maybe make
$44K in year 30.

[2tallbill]

Here in the UK it's a little different, most jobs aside from those that require excellent/suburb Maths ability, top level IT, etc are all much the same pay.

You do not have the same opportunity in the UK as we have in the USA. There are far less
barriers to entry in the USA to starting a business than in the UK.

[olgac]

Yes agree with Bill US is still a land of opportunity. I have seen FSUW start at a minimum wage in food industry then due to being responsible and hard working becoming a supervisor then taking courses and moving to management etc.

Not sure what problems the employers have with Gen Z. My 20 year old and her friends are working and studying hard. She is doing a degree in Computer Science like her parents and her grandparents. I don’t see much difference with Gen X. All the 20+ kids of my friends and family have graduated from college and have high plying jobs now.

[Trenchcoat]

You do not have the same opportunity in the UK as we have in the USA. There are far less
barriers to entry in the USA to starting a business than in the UK.

Damn right there Bill, it sounds like it's much easier to get on in the US than the UK from previous stuff I've heard.

Here in UK it's easy enough to start a business and run a business though if you employ people there tends to be increasing guff to go through to make sure you've covered all aspects of employing someone which can become burdensome.

However, there tends to be a lot of competition from others in business which makes it harder for anyone starting off to make money. So like Employment there tends to be a lot of competition due to the number of people competing in business as well as the number of people competing in Employment, oversupply of people wanting to be in Employment or Business basically here.

So here you've basically got to find an area of business where there is demand, good profit to be made, not a huge amount of money to invest unless you have ABC are willing to do that and an area where there aren't already businesses fulfilling the present demand of whatever it is. That's a pretty tall order in the UK, not impossible but very hard indeed as most areas are full up and unless you can do something better than a business that has existed in that area and is already experienced, known about and is well invested then your odds of doing well are not at all good.

[2tallbill]

Not sure what problems the employers have with Gen Z.

I have a son who is 34 and one who is 10 (they don't fight over stuff). So one is too old
and the other is too young to be Gen Z. I don't think you can accurately pigeon hole an
entire generation any more than you can tell me what makes Leo's different from Libra's
or Cancers are different than Pisces.

[Trenchcoat]

Yes agree with Bill US is still a land of opportunity. I have seen FSUW start at a minimum wage in food industry then due to being responsible and hard working becoming a supervisor then taking courses and moving to management etc.

Not sure what problems the employers have with Gen Z. My 20 year old and her friends are working and studying hard. She is doing a degree in Computer Science like her parents and her grandparents. I don’t see much difference with Gen X. All the 20+ kids of my friends and family have graduated from college and have high plying jobs now.

In the UK that generally either doesn't happen or the person is given a fancy title, the same or about the same money that isn't better than their position they are being promoted from and expected to do a lot more work and much more responsibility. Many get suckered into this trap in the hope that they will at a later stage get on, most end up exhausted, frustrated and end up leaving after putting in a lot of hard work and getting nowhere. It is a common technique of British Employers.

I've heard stuff online on LinkedIn etc of Gen Z not wanting to start at say 8am in the morning but instead 10am, of them being often late and of them being lazy. If course I doubt this is the way they all are, I haven't really had experience of seeing Gen Z at work though 🤔

[2tallbill]

So here you've basically got to find an area of business where there is demand, good profit to be made, not a huge amount of money to invest unless you have ABC are willing to do that and an area where there aren't already businesses fulfilling the present demand of whatever it is. That's a pretty tall order in the UK, not impossible but very hard indeed as most areas are full up and unless you can do something better than a business that has existed in that area and is already experienced, known about and is well invested then your odds of doing well are not at all good.

Anyone starting a business needs a market niche. You can't start a store then go head to head
against Walmart. You need to find a place where you have an advantage. Most people shouldn't
start a business. 80% of businesses fail in the first 2 years.

[olgac]

I've heard stuff online on LinkedIn etc of Gen Z not wanting to start at say 8am in the morning but instead 10am, of them being often late and of them being lazy. If course I doubt this is the way they all are, I haven't really had experience of seeing Gen Z at work though 🤔

I have heard all this too as well as them asking for a self care days off etc etc
But I think in each Generation You see older people complaining about the young generation
It is totally normal. in 30 years Gen Z generaiton will too complain about a new generation how
lazy and entitled they are. This is nothing new

I mean young people in 60s abused all sorts of substances and a lot of them were hippies
Young people in 70s were all into free love before the AIDS epidemic in 80s
So even boomers can't exactly be called a hard working well behaved generation not while they were
in their 20s anyways

[2tallbill]

I've heard stuff online on LinkedIn etc of Gen Z not wanting to start at say 8am in the morning but instead 10am, of them being often late and of them being lazy. If course I doubt this is the way they all are, I haven't really had experience of seeing Gen Z at work though 🤔

I think that you will find nearly every Olympian gold medalist, pro football player and
soccer player are gen Z. None of those things are possible without incredible hard work
and dedication. 

You get all types in every generation.

[ML]

You get all types in every generation.

That's the fact.

I have had all sorts of workers of every age in my real estate development and construction projects.

Most are pretty good with respect to showing up on time and working diligently.

[Trenchcoat]

I have heard all this too as well as them asking for a self care days off etc etc
But I think in each Generation You see older people complaining about the young generation
It is totally normal. in 30 years Gen Z generaiton will too complain about a new generation how
lazy and entitled they are. This is nothing new

I mean young people in 60s abused all sorts of substances and a lot of them were hippies
Young people in 70s were all into free love before the AIDS epidemic in 80s
So even boomers can't exactly be called a hard working well behaved generation not while they were
in their 20s anyways

Self care days

Seems bizarre and funny to me.

I think you are right when people are younger they don't act the same when they are older, as you say there was the hippy movement which probably seemed bizarre and funny in its day, almost like it has sprung up from nowhere and probably seen by many as a load of carry on and silliness.

The mental health crowd seem bizarre to me, many who are Gen Z. I know we all have tough times and things can hit us hard and we can be in a bad way at times but having long term mental health stuff over seemingly not a lot seems weird to me. Back in the 80s & 90s and before I don't think there was even the term 'mental health' in common everyday existence. No one spoke of it in general.

[Trenchcoat]

Anyone starting a business needs a market niche. You can't start a store then go head to head
against Walmart. You need to find a place where you have an advantage. Most people shouldn't
start a business. 80% of businesses fail in the first 2 years.

So true, I've heard of such figures before on the number of businesses that fail with in the first year/two years. It's such a shame for people that wish to have their own independence from the world of work, of Employers.

Some potentially that make it in business may become Employers themselves and so the who Employment situation comes about again. Potentially though some people I think don't mind being employed as it's just less fuss and hassle for themselves, others of course might be less capable.

Still the figure goes to show that it's not so easy to start a business and get on. Careful thought needs to be put into it and I think a self critical approach to avoid rose tinted visions and unrealistic ideas. Even then things may not work out as hoped. Back ups are probably a good idea and even going part time in the world of Employment may help in case the Business idea doesn't work out so well. We often hear of the success stories to motivate us but the failure stories are potentially a more sobering read.

I think the guy was right at least in the video to plan out your move rather than act on impulse if you have financial commitments and responsibilities. Some people egg others on to quit on impulse as an act of defiance or revenge, etc and that's not a nice place to lead people whether intentionally or unintentionally I think.

[olgac]

While it's true that the current fashion among young people to find some sort of neurodiversioncy or trauma in themselves is very funny, it's also true that perviously lots of mental problems were undiagnosed.

My husband and I spent sometime working for Los Alamos National Lab (You know, where the atom bomb was invented)
and there most people had to have a high level security clearance which needed to be renewed every 5 years to keep
one's job. Some of the questions on the application had to do with whether or not You ever used a help of a psychiatrist
or a psychologist. Answering yes to one of these was obviously not a good idea!
Because of that there were many scientists and engineers at the lab with obvious untreated mental disorders or substance abuse.
Anger management, bipolar, anxiety, sleep problems, just severely depressed, etc. I have personally met a few.
So ignoring mental issues is also not a good idea even though Gen Z seem to RELISH theri potential issues, self-diagnose, etc.
Again not all of them, but it for sure seems fashionable nowdays.