Tuesday, August 25, 2015 - It has long been established that youngsters growing up on farms are healthier than kids growing up in cities. Now there is evidence from Australia that they are also more productive workers. Data collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics indicates that only about 31 percent of 15 to 19 year old Australian students work part time jobs, and thus the vast majority of young people do not work their first job until after they graduate from college.
This trend is also apparent in the U.S., as technology drives youngsters to spend their time indoors on their computers and iPads rather than playing outside or working a part-time job.
Many employers have observed that employees who grew up in rural areas on farms tend to be more engaged and have a stronger work ethic than employees who grew up in cities. Those attending university without having to work tend towards laziness and often lack necessary life skills. Many of these college-educated youth look good on paper, say experts, but they just don't have the necessary experience required in a real-world work setting. Many do not understand that a job is about turning up on time every day, not just when you feel like, that it's about taking direction, and basic things, like being well presented and pleasant.
Professor Johanna Wyn, director of the Youth Research Centre at the University of Melbourne is quoted as saying, "It's not that the universities are teaching the wrong thing, but more that young people are encouraged to get an education, follow that to a job they believe they want to do, and the assumption that it's going to be an automatic match with what's required in the labor market."
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