07/17/2026
"The Disappearing First Job"Where did the "First Job" go? 🚪💼At First State Youth, we’ve been on the ground advocating for youth employment, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship for over 15 years. We talk to our youth daily. They aren't lazy, and they aren't "refusing to apply themselves."The truth is: the starting line has been completely dismantled.If you are over 40, think back to your first summer or after-school job. Chances are, you did one of these:📦 Grocery Baggers & Stockers: A classic rite of passage that taught customer service and pace. Today? Stores have replaced entire lanes with automated self-checkouts, asking customers to do the work for free.🚲 Paper Routes: Decades ago, neighborhood kids on bikes handled the local news. Today, adults in cars deliver the papers.⛽ Gas Station Attendants: Pumping gas and washing windshields used to be a steady job for a 16-year-old. Now, it’s entirely self-serve.🍿 Movie Theater Projectionists & Cashiers: Run by young people learning technical skills. Today, digital projectors run on timers, and tickets are bought at digital kiosks.🚜 Farm & Yard Work: Industrialized landscaping companies and heavy farm machinery have completely replaced the informal neighborhood teen gigs. The Squeeze: Automation on one end, Seniors on the other.Not only has technology wiped out the entry-level starting line, but our economic reality has shifted. Because of skyrocketing costs of living, utilities, and prescription medications, our senior citizens are being forced to work longer than ever. They are occupying minimum-wage, entry-level positions they historically would have never considered 30 or 40 years ago just to survive.When a 15-year-old looking for their first job has to compete against an automated kiosk on one end, and a senior citizen who needs that shift to pay for heart medication on the other—the kid loses every single time.Stop blaming the youth for a game where the rules were changed on them.We cannot expect our young people to magically gain "work ethic" when we’ve allowed their starting blocks to be erased. This is why First State Youth fights so hard for structured, guaranteed youth employment and entrepreneurship programs. We have to actively build the pipelines that society took away.Parents, what was your very first job? Is it still around for kids today? Let’s talk about it in the comments.👇👇
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