Do you have a source for any program which is giving juveniles a government check to sit on their ass? Because I can't find any. There are, rightly so, laws that limit how many hours a teenager can work, and how late, so that they can attend school and because they are children.

There are no more extended unemployment payments, and the employment stats did not show a difference when they were dropped at two points this past year, so the argument that people were just staying home to collect unemployment doesn't hold water. If a business can't pay workers a livable wage, they shouldn't be in business. The answer is to increase wages, not to recruit child labor at low wages, or have 14-year olds working until one or two in the morning.

@Lauren So your saying you don’t have a problem with making it more difficult for teenagers to get a job? What in the hell is wrong with children learning a work ethic?
I know a lot of people who are staying home drawing a check who would otherwise be working.

@Trajan61 There are already laws for teenagers working. They limit how late they can work, and how many hours a week they can work, and they were established because employers would push the envelope and give kids full-time hours, or work them until 1 or 2 in the morning or later on school nights. Forcing them into those situations has nothing to do with a work ethic, it's legalized slave labor.

The first wave of expanded Federal unemployment ended in June, and the last one was the end of September. At no point during that time was there a sudden surge in job applications because people were no longer receiving benefits.

State unemployment is limited by percentage of wages lost, and for a limited time period. It does not require that the unemployed accept a job paying significantly less than they had been earning, so a middle manager is not expected to deliver pizza. Every employee pays into that system and is entitled to the benefits of it. If you know people who are not obeying those rules, then they are committing fraud.

@Trajan61 they aren't pushing to make it easier for teens to get a job. They are pushing to make it easier for employers to exploit child labor. I'm quite sure that if the industries in question here paid a decent wage, they could convince full grown adults to quit working at Walmart or wherever and work for them. Trust that no one is living fat on that $800-1000 a month unemployment check. That won't cover rent in most places.

@JonnaBononna I’ve talked to people getting 600 a week on unemployment so what are you talking about.

@Trajan61 back when they were paying extra during the pandemic, but as Lauren said, that ended in September. Here in Louisiana, it's just over $200 week max without the enhancement congress passed that has ended.

@Trajan61 it's actually exactly what one would make working 40 hours a week on minimum wage- $7.25 an hour.

@JonnaBononna I pay my experienced employee’s 30 dollars per hour but I don’t think very many green teenagers just starting out deserve that kind of wage but they do deserve a chance to get started and learn.