Is anyone concerned about work ethic anymore? I am. I am still trying to figure out why there are so many job openings and no one to fill them. The reason for this concern is I encounter numerous people who do not have a job and are not looking for one, but they appear to need money. I ran into a young man that is over 21 years of age who is an unmarried father he nor the mother of his child have a job. After a short conversation with him, I determined that he is not looking for a job. This confused me. I mentally placed him into a category of a person with no work ethic. I believe I learned work ethic from my parents as a matter of fact I know I did. When I was 15 years old my mother had me apply for a work permit. Back in those days, you needed one if you were going to work and you were under 16 years of age. After the permit was approved, she put me in the car and drove me to East Hills Shopping Center to G.C. Murphy’s. I went inside and applied for a cashier’s job and was hired immediately. That was my first job and my first Social Security credit, now I was building credits to my retirement funds. Are you feeling me? Are you picking up what I am putting down? Just so you know those under-the-table jobs do not contribute to your Social Security credits. The more credits you earn the larger your Social Security check will be when you retire. I do believe that work ethic is learned by example. If there is not a parent in the house setting a good example by working and telling their child that they need to go to work, you are contributing to what I think is a growing problem.
Young people without social skills, no ability to be on time, work self directly, and they are not making contributions to their future earnings. Just for the record: work ethic is a belief that work and diligence have a moral and inherent ability, virtue, or value to strengthen character and individual abilities. It is a set of values centered on the importance of work and manifested by determination or desire to work hard.
Email the columnist at debbienorrell@aol.com
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