Former education secretary gives young workers an attitude check: 'This will matter'

One of America’s most respected and influential voices in politics and education has sounded the alarm for today’s youngest generations as their shift in work attitudes could result in grim futures.

"A man who has missed the pleasure of work, the job well done and finished, has missed one of the great pleasures life has to offer," former U.S. Secretary of Education Bill Bennett said on "Kudlow" Thursday.

"I'm not concerned so much about the rich not working, so much as long as they're keeping that economy moving," he continued, "but I am very concerned about the young."

Bennett’s comments came less than a day before the March jobs report showed the U.S. economy more or less met economists' expectations with 236,000 payrolls added and had more labor force participation with a rising number of male workers coming back.

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Amid the latest jobs report, a recent Bloomberg analysis found the U.S. has a shortfall of 2.4 million people in the labor force, while educated young men and so-called "workaholics" are reducing their time on the job by three hours per week as compared to 2019, before the pandemic.

Bennett fears there are "a couple [of] reasons" why today’s younger generations aren’t working as much.

"One, we haven't talked to them about the value of work, we haven't taught them," Bennett said. "And I don't know, are parents talking to their kids about work and why they work and how important it is? I'm not so sure. Plus, the schools are certainly not doing that."

"The young people's attitude toward work is kind of like their attitude toward most of what adults do these days: they're not in favor," the former education secretary added.

He further criticized others for being "too optimistic" about millennial and Gen Z cohorts and their impact on America’s economy and politics, cautioning that their attitudes can translate to the ballot box.

"A man who has missed the pleasure of work, the job well done and finished, has missed one of the great pleasures life has to offer."

- Bill Bennett, Former U.S. Secretary of Education, White House drug czar

"Dane County, which is where the University of Wisconsin, Madison, is – I used to teach there – 80% of the young people voted for this radical leftist. And I think you are seeing these kinds of numbers around the country from young people: 60, 70% are fairly strong Democratic. You and I have talked before about how they tend to prefer socialism to capitalism," Bennett told Kudlow. "This will matter in the polls."

The former Reagan Cabinet member put the onus on Republicans to find "a good response" for young generations who prioritize social issues such as abortion.

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"Those two voting blocs, moderate women in the suburbs and young people, we've got to turn that around. Ronald Reagan had young people's vote, you'll remember that, Larry. In fact, you and I were two of the young people who voted for him," Bennett said, while also warning against too much entitlement and socialist policies.

"Look what happened here in COVID," he pointed out. "People got checks for not working, they get used to it and they want it to continue."

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