One of my childhood memories is when a friend told me he got an allowance.  For doing mostly nothing, his parents gave him a dollar a week that he could do with as he pleased.  This sounded good, so I asked my father if I could have an allowance.  He thought for a moment and said he could do that, but I might be better off asking my uncle if there was work I could do on the farm.

My dad and his brothers had a large dairy farm, and my uncle managed the labor.  Early the next morning, I asked my uncle if he had a job I could do.  He said that he did, and, after he had given everyone else his assignment for the day, we got into the pickup and drove to a nearby field.  From this field, I could see my house, and it would be a short walk home.  He gave me a grubbing hoe and showed me how to grub thistles.  He watched for a few minutes, left me with water, and said he would pick me up around lunch.

It was hard work, but I did what I could do.  Long before lunch, he came back and said to get in the truck.  We went to the tobacco patch where I was told that I would be working.  Many of my friends were already there.  Their parents were "hands" on the farm, and the kids were paid to do what they could do.  I joined them and became another paid farmhand.  We were priming tobacco.

As tobacco grows, the lower leaves turn yellow and fall off, becoming unusable.  These could be saved by sitting down in the dirt, scooting backward while pulling off the leaves, and tying them into little bundles.  The kids were ideally suited for this work, as the spaces between the rows were more kid-sized.  An adult would collect them and put them on a wagon.

Kids got a minimum wage that was lower than an adult minimum wage.  At the end of the week, I went to the farm office to pick up my first paycheck.  I got a check for about $35.  This was better than $1, and I got to hang out with my friends.  I did the same thing the next year as well.

One other thing: I was eight years old.

My father was wise.  I was sold on work and being productive.  I worked every summer.  I set, primed, and housed tobacco.  I hauled hay.  I helped at the local grocery store.  I mowed yards.  I helped in the bottling plant.  If I worked and was productive, I earned money.  If I wanted more, I could work more or be more productive.  As I got older and stronger, I was more productive and made more money.

That was the expectation when I was growing up, but now the government is passing out allowances that exceed productive wages and removing the incentive for adults to work.  The government has become an overindulgent parent that is spoiling its children with an allowance.  We are creating a permanent child class with the government as a permanent parent.

This is yet another division in our society.  The current generation of potential entry-level workers is becoming either a productive working class or people getting an allowance from their parental government in hopeful perpetuity.  If my dad had given me the choice between working in the tobacco field or a $35 allowance, I would have taken the free money as well.  I would never have learned the value of work or built the skills to be productive.  That is the choice our government is offering.

Some are learning about work, while others are learning to avoid work.  It must eventually end, for if something cannot be sustained forever, it will stop.  When it does, a significant segment in society will lack the internal discipline and skills to be productive members of a workforce.  They will be relegated to lesser jobs, while the ones who worked will demonstrate the productivity needed to get ahead.  Employers will know which is which.

If you are part of the non-contributing class, it is a sweet deal to get paid for doing nothing.  Enjoy it while you can.  The people who are working are building wealth, getting promotions, and quickly climbing the wage ladder to exceed your barely–starting wage allowance.  When you do finally go to work, you will be working for them, and you will lack the skills needed to advance.  You will be stuck at the artificial minimum wage you created for yourself for a long time.  You will then have another grievance against someone keeping you down.  That is the cost of the opportunity you are squandering.

Image: The Ant and the Grasshopper by Charles H. Bennett.  Public Domain.

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