Most young people don’t want to work

Dear Editor:

I now have a project on hold because I can’t find a couple of young lads (or lasses) to work at a start-up rate of $15 an hour. I need to re-roof an old house with sheet metal.

One of the requirements is that you can’t be afraid of heights, although the roofer will have a harness to protect him or herself from falling. The roof slope is not dangerous, but some people get a little weak in the knees when they are more than ten feet above ground.

At $15 an hour, and assuming a five-hour day, a young person can make $500 a week, and if it takes a month they would have earned at a not-too- difficult job, $2000.

No experience is necessary as you would learn on the job under my supervision.

Here’s the first problem. A professional roofer has quoted me $12,000 for labour alone. They would have the job done in a week, and with two of them working they are each making $6,000 for a week’s work. Not bad for manual labour.

The second problem is that I can’t find young people willing to work. Someone told me, “Well, this is the Okanagan, you can’t find anyone who would work when they can lay on the beach all day, supported by their parents.”

Things have changed over the years. My kids all had summer jobs.

My grandkids all have summer jobs.

The idea of working for a living was instilled in my life and my wife’s life from the time we were little, and we passed this ethic on to our children. Nobody in our families has ever collected unemployment insurance.

The unemployment rate in Canada is now 13.7%. Those unemployed are likely living on government subsidies.

And I can’t find someone to work for $15 an hour.

Frank Martens

Summerland