A motorcycle mechanic blamed young workers for his sense of entitlement and claimed he was forced to close his business because of them.
Dave Lawson opened The Bike Doctor Perth in December 1981, but 43 years later he blamed Generation Z, those born between 1997 and 2012, for having to close the business.
“My generation has spoiled them” he told the Western Australia.
‘We have tried to give our children a better life than ours. We haven’t let them resist and make their own mistakes.’
Lawson said Generation Z is rejecting becoming an apprentice because of the low starting salary, but somehow finds the money for expensive lifestyle choices.
‘A lot of young people say they don’t have money, but if you look at their bank statements, they pay $50 to get a hamburger delivered and all that kind of stuff. That’s where your money goes.
“You just can’t save money when you spend it like that,” he said.
In his decades in the business, Rawson estimates he has had only a dozen apprentices, and while some stayed for years, others lasted only a few weeks.
Dave Lawson (pictured right) ran a successful business for more than four decades, but had to close it because he couldn’t find anyone to work there.
However, over the years they had one thing in common: none of them stayed in the job of bicycle mechanic.
While everyone is happy to have got the job, Mr. Rawson said that “in three to six months, they will be dragging their tongues around the shop.”
“Some people wait too long,” he said.
Although money is often a major factor in their declining interest, Rawson said problems begin in schools where becoming an apprentice is not valued enough.
He said students are encouraged to go to college, but leave with $100,000 in debt, no job and no experience.
He said the problem in Western Australia was compounded by the state’s huge and prosperous mining sector.
Mr Rawson explained that mining was a “very attractive job for young people because they can earn a lot of money directly”.
Apprentice heavy diesel mechanic Connor Gale, 21, said many people in the sector leave before qualifying, and said it was mainly down to money and the chance of earning more elsewhere in the short term.
“Customer service advisors earn more than mechanics with bonuses,” he said..
“So the way you see it, why would you sacrifice four years of salary when you could move right into a service advisor position?”
Lawson said Generation Z is shunning apprenticeships due to the low starting salary, but somehow finds the money for expensive lifestyle choices (pictured, young Australians walking on St Kilda Beach in Melbourne).
Although Lawson is based in Perth, the lack of apprentices is a problem across Australia.
Last week, a Brisbane construction boss was stunned when his apprentice sent him a casual text message to announce he had resigned.
Scott Challen, who runs QHI Group, a Brisbane-based home renovation company, said he was stunned to receive a short text message announcing the apprentice would no longer be returning to work.
The text message read: ‘Thank you for the opportunity. I’m sorry I disappointed you, see you later.’
‘We put this young man. “It was fantastic,” Mr Challen said. yahoo.
‘And then, suddenly… He took out the insurance overnight without warning and decided he was going to move interstate.
“That lightness about his own career… he seemed committed, and suddenly he wasn’t committed anymore.”