Baby Boomers vs. "Lazy Young People"

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  1. frantisek78 profile image80
    frantisek78posted 11 years ago

    Many baby boomers seem to delight in accusing young people of being lazy, not willing to work hard etc. What these baby boomers fail to take into account or to realize is that they grew up and entered adulthood and the workforce when America was at its strongest economically and politically (ie. 1950s, '60s, 70's). Sure, they worked hard as well, but they were able to get something for their hard work a lot more easily than today. Jobs were much more plentiful, and Trade Unions had more power in helping workers with fair pay/hours and benefits. Education, cars, health care, food and services etc. were all a lot cheaper than today. Today's young people in the workplace also work hard, for long hours and for less pay and little or no benefits while struggling to pay back college debts, car loans, and rent as well as high food prices. Today's banks are also a lot more greedy and untrustworthy than small savings and loans or local banks were in boom years.
    Baby boomers were lucky to enter adulthood during the times they did. Their successes in jobs and financially is not simply because they "worked harder", but because the conditions during those decades made it possible for them to get more for their work than people get today.

    1. gmwilliams profile image86
      gmwilliamsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Frantisek, this argument is so generational.   Not so long ago, we Baby Boomers were considered such by the GI  and older generations.   In my youth, I recall the GI generation(the World War II generation) stating that we Baby Boomers were spoiled, radical, aimless, and other negativies that they can heap upon us.   Now we Baby Boomers are DOING THE SAME THING. 

      We Baby Boomers grew up in a more socioeconomic time that the World War II generation who grew up in the Great Depression.    The GI generation did not take the differing times into consideration.   Many of them did not appreciate our thoughts, mores, music, and lifestyle.    Yes, we are doing the exact same thing, believe it or not.     The socioeconomic climate for the Millenial generation is more precarious and tenacious than it was for the Baby Boomer generation.    Jobs are being outsourced or are disappearing.    There is more computerization and automation now than it was in the past decades.     Service jobs as we know are disappearing to be replaced by jobs requiring a high technical skill level.   Young people have to really reinvent and/or invent themselves just to break even in today's precarious corporate world.   

      The generalizations regarding generations is totally inane and baseless in its premise.    We Baby Boomers DID NOT like it when the GI and older generation did to us so we should not do it to the younger generation.   Each generation is DIFFERENT, respect that!

  2. knolyourself profile image60
    knolyourselfposted 11 years ago

    The baby-boomers all sold out. They live longer that way.

  3. Patty Inglish, MS profile image87
    Patty Inglish, MSposted 11 years ago

    I disagree with the OP, but only specifically in regards to my own geographic area and its Baby Boomers and younger people -- They are all in the same boat, but it is the younger who are denigrating the older people.

    In Central Ohio, large corporations and small businesses began doing away with health insurance and other benefits in the 1970s. While many of our Boomers were killed in Viet Nam, the job market was still not good for those left, because so many businesses closed down under the Carter and Reagan Administrations. At the same time, many employers would completely not hire women, who if single and without family, were forced to work 2-3 part-time jobs at once already in the early 1980s. Reagan Economics was supposed to be good economics, but even two McDonald's closed down here during his watch.

    In the early 1980s, companies began using a lot of temporary and and more part-time help as cost savings actions, making full-time employment even more difficult. This trend has continued to the 2010s.

    At the same time, many younger people are working 2-3 jobs at once, when they can find work, just like us Baby Boomers in the 1980s. So, in my area, nothing has changed.

    What is bad is that college advisors overall don't seem to look at employment projections at the federal and state level to help students decide what degrees to pursue. That could be a big help, because multiple 1000s of Engineering (all fields), Physician's, Nursing, and Physical and Occupational Therapist's jobs are available right now.  Many Speech Pathology jobs are available, but advisors here are telling students not to pursue that field - I can't find out why, except rumors are that college level instructors make little money in that field, so there is a shortage of instructors. However, it's MBAs that are not finding jobs in my area any more, while students are still encouraged by colleges to pursue that degree.

    I don't hear Baby Boomers calling younger people "lazy" here, but I hear a few younger people calling Boomers "lazy" when those Boomer parents cannot lend the younger folks - kids and grandkids -  any more money.  Still, this is the minority of young people. We are still all in the same boat and seem to feel bad for one other - when we have time to feel bad between our 2-3 jobs, that is.

    We do have a group of Boomers making good livings here, but in the professions (Law, Medicine, etc.) and not with a union, as the OP has pointed out to us that unions are no longer so strong. However, the unions began evaporating with factories in the late 1970s here, so Boomers had little chance at them.

    Thanks for the thread - it's an interesting premise.

 
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