71% of young people are ineligible for the military and for most careers, too

[GoCubsGo]

22. It said "MANY jobs."

A GED is considered equal to a high school diploma. The the article assumes they don't have even that. The vast majority of jobs require at least a GED/high school diploma, including most retail jobs. The military will take recruits with a GED, as will trade schools and many colleges. And, the article was not just about having a job, per se. It was about having a career-type job, and those require at least a GED/high school diploma, if not college or a tech school diploma. Even many manufacturing jobs require an education beyond high school/GED these days. There are only so many fast food, shelf stocker, construction and other manual labor jobs to go around. Those are not the sorts of jobs most people want to do all their lives.

Obesity puts a lot of jobs off limits, especially if one doesn't have a college degree. You'll notice that you don't see many obese fire fighters, policemen, and construction workers. And, jobs that require one to be on one's feet all day, such as retail, are very difficult for people who are extremely overweight. As for criminal records, just about every job application asks if one has any sort of criminal record beyond traffic tickets. If one answers "yes", one is probably shit-out-of-luck, even if their crime was petty. A lot of employers don't want to take the risk, even for something like public intoxication.

BTW, I don't really buy that 71% figure. See my reply to RPK5637.