Fortunately that wasn't particularly laborious, so I still had the energy to do school too. Many people are not as lucky, and these days often have to work 2 or more jobs to get by. Worse, the kind of schooling I took advantage of is increasingly turning from vocation-oriented education to cheap-university-transfer education.
Nah. He sounds like someone with class and privilege who's worked a minimum wage job.
See, a minimum wage job for someone who is a privileged youth-- is a good way to learn the last little bit of organization, focus, "eye on the ball", working with a supervisor, attention to detail skills-- that will serve them the rest of their life. It's a great skill building opportunity.
For someone who's been stuck in it 3 years--- well, it's exhausted all of its value in those respects by this point.
People who are scared of the minimum wage going up are often worried that it's going to squeeze out kids from getting these first work experiences. And it's a valid concern. But the people who spend their lives stuck in those jobs are invisible to them.
I personally favor shortening the work week because I think it will increase the compensation associated with low skill labor; provide additional incentives for employers to ramp people into higher skill positions; and leave room for kids in low skill jobs.
What skills would they be? Surely the only skill you build while flipping burgers is that of flipping burgers. Is it applicable to any other job?
You're arguing from an ideal situation, without taking into account that reality's average is very much less than ideal.