[discostu]

These kids were bums before the economy turned south. They don’t want jobs, they aren’t looking for jobs, so the job market doesn’t really impact them. The most it does is give them an excuse during the occasional parental tongue-lashing. And it’s not like they’d be qualified for anything but a menial job, they haven’t gone to any kind of schooling, they’ve developed no skills outside of Playstation. Part of having no responsibility means having no reason to become qualified for a job.

[Hodar]

These kids were bums before the economy turned south. They don’t want jobs, they aren’t looking for jobs, so the job market doesn’t really impact them.

That's a pretty broad brush you go there, pardner. May be the case in a large number of cases, but there are also plenty of cases where people just can't catch a break.

[OneWingedShark]

These kids were bums before the economy turned south. They don’t want jobs, they aren’t looking for jobs, so the job market doesn’t really impact them.

That might be true for some; but I got my first "real job"* about a year ago. I put out a LOT of applications and got few responses; it was actually pleasantly surprising when I got an actual "we're sorry" letter simply because it showed more responsiveness/cost than the "we're sorry" e-mails. This job was actually the only one that I got that showed serious interest in picking me up as an employee.

Now, you'd be quite right to ask what sort of degree I have; so I'll tell you -- a bachelors in Computer Science... and it only took me a decade to get it (got deployed a couple times, that busted several semesters), but I got it with no loans so that puts me ahead of the game.

* By "real job" I mean a job in the private sector which was not obtained a) in part because of my social connections & b) not school or government funded.

The most it does is give them an excuse during the occasional parental tongue-lashing. And it’s not like they’d be qualified for anything but a menial job, they haven’t gone to any kind of schooling, they’ve developed no skills outside of Playstation. Part of having no responsibility means having no reason to become qualified for a job.

I tried applying for those 'menial jobs' in the last several summers before graduating; there was NOTHING. (Though I did get a job one summer with a man from my church doing landscaping.)

So, while I'm sure there are people who could get a job if they wanted; I'm not sure that there are as many jobs as you might like.