I think you miss spoke. Its 62.8% that are working OR looking for work. A number last seen in 1978. I am troubled that our participation in the workforce has been declining. People keep bringing up baby boomers and that is fine, but understand that this is their legacy. They clearly did not set good values and are responsible for the new "lazy" generation we have today.
It's not the fault of the Boomers that there are so damn many of them. It has skewed statistics ever since they appeared. They are skewing the retirement statistics now but they have also paid huge amounts into social Security and retirement plans and are still doing. One thing to understand with a statistical group this large is that there is no such thing as an average Boomer. They range from rich to poor, liberal to conservative, responsible to impetuous, and clever to dim. Their "values" are all over the map. The religious right and the Tea Party right are filled with Boomers, they aren't just old hippies which are a tiny minority. "Laziness" is a personal fault. Each individual has to motivate his own self to be worthwhile and we can't indict the previous generation for the personal failings of the next one. Gen-Xers and Millennials have to make their own way as the Boomers did. Tons of jobs are opening up as Boomers retire and opportunities abound for younger people.
Laziness is not just a personal fault. It is on the nation. We have a culture problem here in the US. It starts in the home.
I'd like to hear why you think so. What is happening in the home? Seriously. America still has the highest productivity of any industrial nation and is also rated the most competitive nation. As many lazies as we have, America has a very low laziness profile by international standards. Most third-worlders do no work at all and developing nations have a lot of do-nothings. Even the Euro's don't work very hard. The UK is trailing the French in productivity, who work 32-hour weeks, get 6-week vacations, and a ton of family leave. America, for the most part, has a frontier-inherited work ethic that does not exist in the eastern Hemisphere.
See, I don't judge the US based of "other" countries. I am simply stating an observation of the new generation who grows up playing video games, in a fatherless home, dependence on government assistance, and new college grads "expecting jobs". My parents road my ass when I was younger. They would not allow me to sleep in etc. Now, I see more and more coddling and more parents not taking a role in their kids lives.
Sad but true Pride. My grandparents worked the fields or ran a route all day, sunrise to set, 6 days a week. My parents had to help from the time they could carry water to the older siblings working the farm, my mom. My dad helped grandpa load his truck as a preteen and then helped run his produce route when he started driving. Growing up my brothers and I had to do all the chores around the house, laundry, mow, dust, sweep, mop, dishes, etc... Mom cooked the meals. I make mine pick up after themselves and do chores when I have them. The ex doesn't make them do anything. That's something I see with other families as well. Parents beg, kids refuse, parents give in. And the 20+ year olds think they should start a job in the middle if not at the top.
Yes, the video game generation seems to be less athletic and less motivated than they should be. And its not just the fatherless children on assistance. Plenty of middle class and affluent kids are the same and even worse. They have even more sit-in-a-dark-room distractions from getting mentally and physically prepared for life. These kids are really sheltered. Never washed a dish in their life. Never mowed a yard unless they sit on the mower and drive it around. They live at home until they are 30 letting Mom cook, clean and wash for them. But a lot of them break out of it if they just get away from home and into the military or off to college or just an independent job. I see a lot of motivated college students and they should be expecting to find jobs. Most of the ones that are expecting quick corporate salaries go into grad school anyway and pick up those professional degrees and if they have the stuff, they get recruited and their starting pay is very respectable. But many undergrads are majoring in the arts or in literature or some other field in which there have never been enough well-paying jobs. They will be the ones "unable to find work" unless they get education credentials and teach school. And that doesn't pay good starting salaries. But it's not like they haven't been to school for 12 years and exposed to all the things that they need to know. Kids are growing up slower than we did and staying immature much longer. We knew that we had to have our shit together by the time we were 18 and be prepared for adulthood. What is it now? 25? 28?
Holy over generalization. Weren't you the guy who three posts up was talking about the large variety that inherently exists in any large populatoon?
I don't know guys. Maybe my daughters are exceptions, but they both have always had jobs, make fantastic grades and are highly focused. I was talking with my oldest yesterday and if she is successful in getting the RA job she has applied for for next fall, between her scholarships, RA stipend, etc., she will be making almost $700 per month while going to school for free. Many of her friends are similarly focused and driven.
