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The Jobs Americans Should Not Have to Do? (One must wonder what kind of society we have become.)
National Review ^ | 07/15/2010 | John Derbyshire

Posted on 07/15/2010 7:16:25 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

July 15, 2010 4:00 A.M.

The Jobs Americans Should Not Have to Do?

One must wonder what kind of society we have become.

 

In the dismaying-but-not-surprising category of news stories recently, this one in the July 2 New York Times got my attention. It describes how the Obama administration is killing off the summer-internship programs, many of them unpaid, that are so popular with high-school seniors and college students. Sample quotes:

In April, the Obama administration issued a fact sheet listing six criteria aimed at preventing employers from violating the Fair Labor Standards Act with their unpaid internship programs. . . . The guidelines, from the Labor Department, have left employers scrambling to bulletproof their internship programs. . . . Some employers . . . have converted to paid internships but in the process have cut back on the number of posts they can offer. Others have abandoned their programs altogether.

One reason this got my attention is that it came as the second installment of a double whammy, showing up in my inbox just as I’d got through reading the May 2010 backgrounder from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), titled “A Drought of Summer Jobs: Immigration and the Long-Term Decline in Employment Among U.S.-Born Teenagers.” Sample quotes from them:

In 1994, nearly two-thirds of U.S.-born teenagers were in the summer labor force; by 2007 it was less than half. . . . Between 1994 and 2007, in occupations where teenage employment declined the most, immigrants made significant job gains . . .

The CIS report, by the way, easily scotches the idea of a direct connection between the two phenomena — the idea that summer internships have been drying up the pool of youngsters available for work of a more traditional kind:

According to Princeton Review's Internship Bible, there are only about 100,000 internships (paid and unpaid) in the country. The increase in U.S.-born teenagers not in the labor force was 3.4 million between 1994 and 2007.

The second reason the administration’s internship-killing policies got my attention is that my own princess, aged 17-and-a-half, has just begun her first-ever internship, as a trading-floor clerk at a Wall Street firm. Since she still has a year of high school to go, it’s a real plum of an opportunity, and we are everlastingly obliged to the firm that made the offer. It is also Ms. Derbyshire’s first real job of any kind, other than dog-walking gigs. Onward and upward, Nellie.

According to that New York Times report, though, the summer internship may become an endangered species; according to the CIS report, lower-level summer jobs already have, thanks to reckless immigration policies.

What seems to be going on here is a war against the notion that any American citizen should do any kind of non-academic work before the age of 25 — before, that is, a college degree and a couple of years of law school have been completed.

If that is indeed the mentality we are drifting into, it is based not on the real America, but on a fantasy America that exists only in the imaginations of our cognitive elites. I hope nobody in Georgetown or the Upper East Side will fall off his chair in shock if I point out (borrowing from the CIS report) that: “Of U.S.-born 20-year-olds in 2008, 42 percent had no additional schooling after high school.”

If you force facts like that on the attention of the overclass, their response is that, so long as a single 18-year-old anywhere is not going on from high school to college, then our schools are failing!


There’s nothing abstract about that “overclass,” either: I can name names.

President Barack Obama: “All students should graduate from high school prepared for college and a career — no matter who you are or where you come from.”

Education Secretary Arne Duncan: “By 2020 all students will graduate ready to succeed in college and the workplace.” (Note, by the way, that Duncan’s conjunction there, like the president’s, is an “and,” not an “or.”)

Amy Wilkins of the Education Trust: “We think that getting all kids college-ready is absolutely the right aspiration. It’s the right goal and it’s absolutely achievable.”

The superintendent of public schools in Prince George’s County, Md.: “We believe that every kid can learn at a high level and that college is for every child.”

A person acquainted with the real world would recognize this for what it is: the romantic piffle of fools living in money-padded cocoons. There, however, you see the circularity of the issue. The overclass types who extrude this gibberish are not much acquainted with the real world; and one reason for this is, they have never done low-paid, low-skill work. They may have done higher-status internships for little or no pay, but it seems the administration now wants to shut youngsters off from even that much acquaintance with the world of work.

Internships are at least still sought after. As the more traditional, lower-status types of summer work have become foreign-ized, American youngsters have, perhaps understandably, become increasingly alienated from them.


I have noticed that if, among 30-something colleagues, I mention one of my own school or college summer jobs — factory or construction work, dishwashing, retail sales, bartending — my colleagues will look amused, and a bit baffled. How come a guy as well-educated as Derb was shoveling concrete? Boy, he’s a real eccentric! No, I’m not. Those experiences were perfectly normal for a person of my generation. They’re just not normal any more, not for children of the American middle and upper classes.

Steve Sailer has noticed the same thing. From his review of the movie Adventureland:

Writer-director Greg Mottola . . . explains the origin of his quasi-autobiographical film with an ingenuous snobbishness that would have annoyed and amused John Steinbeck. "I was talking with a bunch of writer friends, and I was telling them these embarrassing stories about a summer in the '80s that I spent as a carnie working at an amusement park. . . . It was the worst job I've ever had . . . I should have had a good job — I should have been a tutor or gone to Manhattan and been an intern at a magazine or something respectable — but no, I was working for minimum wage, handing out stuffed animals to drunk people."

Please note that Mottola isn't, personally, a jerk. Judging from Adventureland he's an insightful yet gentle observer. That's just the way people think nowadays.

Yes, it is. The word that stands out there is “embarrassing.” For a guy like Mottola (who, I note, was born in 1964 to a non-rich family, so my “30-something” may even be understating the case), it’s embarrassing to admit having done low-level work. We’re embarrassed when we admit to something shameful. To 21st-century Americans, low-level work is shameful.


Well, I don’t suppose anybody ever did drudge work if better options were available. Until recently, though, a great many people reconciled themselves to it: as a means to support a family, as a pathway to as much independence as their abilities would permit, and even as something in which satisfactions might be found. Remember Luke in The Thorn Birds boasting of his prowess as a sheep-shearer and sugarcane-cutter?

Nor was physical labor always thought shameful. In the older American ideal, which is now as dead as the one-room schoolhouse, physical labor was held to have a dignity to it. Even elites believed their youngsters would benefit from a taste of it. Calvin Coolidge put his 15-year-old son to work in the tobacco fields of Hatfield, Mass., as a vacation job. (When the lad happened to mention who he was, one of his co-workers said: “Gee, if the president was my father, I wouldn’t be working here.” Cal Jr.: “You would, if your father were my father.” For a comparison with the “conservative” sensibility of our own time, recall Karl Rove’s remark: “I don’t want my 17-year-old son to have to pick tomatoes.” Good heavens, Karl, of course you don’t: The poor lad might break a fingernail.)

Under pressure from employer lobbies, eagerly taking advantage of the notion put about by liberals that opposition of any sort to immigration of any sort is tantamount to membership in the Klan, foreigners have been brought in under the H-2B, J, and Q-1 guest-worker visas, or just allowed in illegally, to do the jobs American teenagers once did. The foreigners are older (“overwhelmingly adults over age 20,” says the CIS report), they work for less, and the illegal ones are docile because they fear deportation. From an employer’s point of view, what’s not to like?

From a patriot’s point of view, there’s a lot not to like. As the CIS report says: “A society in which some types of jobs are seen as beneath the station of Americans may not be a very attractive society.” Patriotism, though, in a nation whose president stands by nodding in approval as a foreign politician insults our laws, is just as eccentric as the willingness of a college student to get calluses on his hands.

Even when traditional summer occupations began to dry up, there was still, for lucky or well-placed youngsters, the hope of an internship. It wasn’t necessarily much of a hope, certainly not for internships at the most prized firms. The New York Times report tells us: “At ESPN, Howard Hamilton, a vice president of human resources, said that 10,000 people applied this summer for 90 paid internship spots.” Even unpaid internships are much sought after. Unpaid? People will pay to do them. One internship at Vogue magazine went for $42,500 recently — surely a record for a “negative salary” (though admittedly the sale was made at a charity auction).

Now the over-educated elite labor-virgins who run our lives for us are seeking to stamp out even those few, mild opportunities for pre-postgraduate work experience. Who do they think is going to do all the drudge work, either physical or clerical? Oh, right.

— John Derbyshire is an NRO columnist and author, most recently, of We Are Doomed: Reclaiming Conservative Pessimism.




TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: immigration; jobs
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To: Clock King

Some folks think that Obama is trying to re-shape America into a communist society. Maybe. What I think he’s trying to do is to destroy what we are. The coming Dark Ages isn’t going to be a result of failed policies. It will be the result of successful policies.


21 posted on 07/15/2010 8:01:01 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy
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To: SeekAndFind

In some of the more affluent neighborhoods around me, teenagers don’t WANT to work. If they have a job it’s only because Dad MADE them get one, and it is only a matter of time until they can figure a good way to get themselves fired
and go back to the videogames and cruising around in cars their parents bought for them.

In the less affluent neighborhoods, teenagers are all getting sucked into Americorps-type GovJobs programs that offer college tuition benefits, free meals and above-minimum wages for “community organizing”.


22 posted on 07/15/2010 8:06:04 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: ClearCase_guy
The Lib just laughed in a condescending way and said "Nope. They won't do those jobs."

Sounds like you confused the poor lib with facts.

23 posted on 07/15/2010 8:08:34 AM PDT by YankeeReb
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To: SeekAndFind; ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas; stephenjohnbanker; DoughtyOne; FromLori; Gilbo_3; ...
RE :”In the dismaying-but-not-surprising category of news stories recently, this one in the July 2 New York Times got my attention. It describes how the Obama administration is killing off the summer-internship programs, many of them unpaid, that are so popular with high-school seniors and college students. Sample quotes: In April, the Obama administration issued a fact sheet listing six criteria aimed at preventing employers from violating the Fair Labor Standards Act with their unpaid internship programs. . . . The guidelines, from the Labor Department, have left employers scrambling to bulletproof their internship programs. . . . Some employers . . . have converted to paid internships but in the process have cut back on the number of posts they can offer. Others have abandoned their programs altogether

You don't understand their real problem with this. These internships are not fair because not everyone is offered them. Only the motivated take these internships, much like private school vouchers. What about the slug who has no ambition and doesn't understand the benefits of experience? It is not fair that he is ‘left behind’. If we all can't progress, none of us can, (unless you are in a union then the rules are different.)

You have to understand the democrat value system. It is better to get unemployment benefits from the government than to take a job that pays less then democrats say is fair, even if unemployment benefits pay much less than that fair wage.

Why not raise unemployment benefits to the minimum wage for 40 hours? Why do democrats not pay a 'fair' wage?

24 posted on 07/15/2010 8:14:02 AM PDT by sickoflibs ( "It's not the taxes, the redistribution is the federal spending=tax delayed")
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To: SeekAndFind
What a great read; thank you.

All too often we focus on politics as the source of our problems. Politics is just a reflection of culture, however, and that's where I try to look for answers to long-term developments. This author is a great cultural observer, and it was a pleasure to read this article. Thanks again.

25 posted on 07/15/2010 8:14:40 AM PDT by TopQuark
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To: NeverForgetBataan
Ownership quickly realized that illegals were a dream come true.

An added benefit to the owners. The hourly wage hasn't changed much since the 80s.
I can remember working in fast food in HS in the late 70s.
There was a recession and we were happy to get minimum wage ($3.32/hr).
Everyone, even the graveyard shift was either HS or Junior College age, and all were native born.
This was in a relatively crummy neighborhood outside NYC.

Fast forward 10 years (1989), I was attending school and working part time in fast food.
Now the wage was about $8.00/hr , which was above minimum wage by about $3.00/hr.
This was a nice suburb in NJ and about 1/2 the crew was foreign born.
Today, almost nobody is native born, and the wage is still about $8.00/hr.

26 posted on 07/15/2010 8:19:49 AM PDT by YankeeReb
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To: Clock King

Yep! It is the paradigm shift to atheist moral relativism taught in the schools. Children in early America had to work with their parents—help on the farms—pull their weight in the family. It was expected and Godly.

Then Progressives created forced schooling. Made it illegal to have kids “work” through child abuse laws prior to age 16.

Amish have special dispensation but, then again, they raise children with true self-esteem, not this fake superficial kind which is promoted by government laws and tv 24/7.

Hard work creates true self esteem. When you create and make things and learn how to control the environment—it creates true self esteem and humility.

Governments have intentionally created laws to change children’s thinking with intense effort to destroy what was called the Protestant Work Ethic and because of it, it has not only destroyed the family unit because respect is destroyed—not just respect for one another—but the one for oneself.

My parents would have been prosecuted for child abuse if they raised me and my siblings as they did. This government intrusion is the start of the destruction of the family and the elimination parental control.


27 posted on 07/15/2010 8:23:16 AM PDT by savagesusie
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To: nascarnation

I was the roof-top delivery designatee when I was in high school. I could carry three bundles at once. It definately bulked me up for football. We also did not use nail guns until I was in college.


28 posted on 07/15/2010 8:24:22 AM PDT by outpostinmass2
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To: savagesusie

I believe the unions were behind the push to prohibit teenagers from many of the traditional summer and part-time jobs;hoping to push wages and overtime even higher for union workers already in the workforce.


29 posted on 07/15/2010 8:42:41 AM PDT by hoosierham (Waddaya mean Freedom isn't free ?;will you take a credit card?)
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To: dustoff339

Don’t tell me that there are jobs Americans won’t do!!!


Hey, buddy, read my post. I didn’t say that there are jobs, Americans won’t do. I only said they should be PAID for doing those jobs. Do you have a problem with that? In your example, it sounds like you were self employed—which is a different animal.


30 posted on 07/15/2010 8:42:51 AM PDT by rbg81 (When you see Obama, shout: "DO YOUR JOB!!")
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To: outpostinmass2; nascarnation

My husband owned a roofing business, and it generally took from a day or so to a week or more to do a complete roof. Some roofs have multiple layers that take a long time to clean off. Then, there are other problems they might find, like rotted wood. On top of that, weather is a factor. As for flirting with girls...illegal immigrants don’t do that? hmmmm... There are good and bad workers in every group of people. The point is, that white people work just as hard or harder than anyone else, and it’s a myth they won’t do jobs that illegals do.


31 posted on 07/15/2010 8:43:13 AM PDT by Jaidyn
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To: ClearCase_guy
Do you have a point? Because I’m not seeing it.

It was more miscellaneous rambling from a retired phart, LOL

32 posted on 07/15/2010 9:16:38 AM PDT by nascarnation
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To: ClearCase_guy
The Lib just laughed in a condescending way and said "Nope. They won't do those jobs."

This is perfectly fitting with the average lib. I guarantee this lib you were talking to would never even think about doing that kind of labor, and none of his pathetic friends would either. Thus, he assumes that everyone is as lazy as he and his friends, failing to realize, of course, as all libs do, that the people in this country who constitute the evil conservatives are not afraid of work and would do any of these jobs that they had to to get by rather than hold their hands out. The libs can't conceive of that kind of self-reliance because they are parasites by nature.
33 posted on 07/15/2010 9:20:57 AM PDT by fr_freak
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To: hoosierham

Yes, you are right. The unions are just one of the arms of the Progressive (marxist) movement, though, which is working 24/7 to
CHANGE the way children and adults process information....it is called brainwashing.

Homosexual movement, feminist movement, unions....all working to reeducate little Johnny so that he doesn’t discriminate—so that he will never be able to discriminate—Never be able to decide Good v. Evil. Never be able to think logically or believe in absolute truth...God. If they get rid of the concept of God, then they have the power to control your world, since your rights come from man.

Marxism is all about control....esp. about how one thinks. They have to get rid of old fashioned Aristotelian logic and reason. Then the “feelings” will rule and you can always control that with drugs. Make little robots. You need to be happy—take this pill. Oh, you feel depressed—take this pill...........Brave New World describes this hell hole.


34 posted on 07/15/2010 9:21:22 AM PDT by savagesusie
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To: SeekAndFind

This attitude has ruined a generation of young people who have no clue about adult life skills. Most do not have the skills to do any type of work, have no work ethic and want to start at or near the top. Most don’t have basic finance skills to even maintain a lifestyle in an apartment and get basic bills paid.

I have said all along that one of the truly tragic things about hiring illegals is they take those very important first jobs away from our young people. Those first jobs are where you learn work ethic, getting along with others and other vital things to succeed in any job. They also take the ladder jobs away from people who don’t want to go to college so it is extremely hard for them to start at the bottom and work their way up in construction and service industries especially due to mass hiring of illegals.

This country will always have this type of work and it does our own citizens no service to keep our citizens out of those jobs. We truly need to deport all illegals and open those jobs up to our unemployed and young people so that they can learn the skills and confidence to be productive citizens.


35 posted on 07/15/2010 9:40:11 AM PDT by Tammy8 (~Secure the border and deport all illegals- do it now! ~ Support our Troops!~)
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To: PGR88

One thing you need to know is that once illegals are brought into the workplace they force out citizen workers. Illegals will take over a workplace by making it impossible for citizens to work there and promote every opening to an illegal friend or relative. Employers that choose to hire illegals usually go to a nearly all illegal work force as much as possible for economic reasons but also because it makes it less likely they will be reported for working illegals.

There is also the illegal created work environment that most don’t want to talk about becuase it will get you called racist. Most illegal workers are adults working in jobs that were formerly teen or young adult jobs in this country. Many have drinking and drug abuse issues as well as different views of relationships. To put it bluntly many are the dregs of Mexico’s society. Citizen adults find it impossible to work with them and most parents that are aware of the situation with many illegals would really NOT want their teens to work with them. I know many parents that will not let thier children even apply for work at places that hire illegals- with good reason.

Now we do indeed have young adults that are dependent on their parents or social services when they should be self supporting. It is a by-product of allowing illegal workers. We need to deport all illegals and open up those jobs. Get our young people back into the work force and make them self reliant again.


36 posted on 07/15/2010 9:51:32 AM PDT by Tammy8 (~Secure the border and deport all illegals- do it now! ~ Support our Troops!~)
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To: television is just wrong

I was a furniture mover on the South Side of Chicago, located in Roseland, back in the late 1970s. Back then, we (white people) could go into bars and restaurants all over Roseland; now it’s a de facto no-go war zone for my race. We did jobs all over the city, in rough neighborhoods, and in the best neighborhoods. Being a south suburbanite from a wealth community, with a physician father and upper middle class upbringing, it opened my eyes. I worked with rough guys, many of whom were Chicago Public School teachers working to make ends meet. I would not trade that experience for anything, and it’s a shame today’s teens and 20-somethings don’t do this type of work.


37 posted on 07/15/2010 10:36:14 AM PDT by astounded (The democrat party is a clear and present danger to the USA)
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To: YankeeReb

I too worked fast food in the late 70s as a high school kid. I did not consider it to be a “low level job”. it was just a job. I was sixteen for heavens sakes. In still went on to college and graduated and have a career.. etc..

I think this notion, that “middle class families” would consider those jobs to be too menial for their children is false. Learning to go to work on time and take direction from a supervisor can begin to teach a teen about work ethic.

A teen flipping few burgers in the summer will NOT set a kids course in life.


38 posted on 07/15/2010 10:42:22 AM PDT by NeverForgetBataan (To the German Commander: ..........................NUTS !)
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To: nascarnation

...”local crackers”...

You can use this term only if you are from Florida...LOL


39 posted on 07/15/2010 10:46:05 AM PDT by astounded (The democrat party is a clear and present danger to the USA)
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To: astounded

believe me we have plenty in Indiana, largely south of I70, LOL or locally termed hilljack


40 posted on 07/15/2010 10:54:33 AM PDT by nascarnation
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