President Obama and First Lady Michelle say they want their privileged daughters to work minimum-wage jobs because it builds character.
“I think every kid needs to get a taste of what it’s like to do that real hard work . . . That’s what life is,” Michelle Obama said in an interview with Parade magazine published on Friday.
The couple is even searching for tough menial gigs for their daughters, Sasha and Malia, President Obama told the magazine.
“We are looking for opportunities for them to feel as if going to work and getting a paycheck is not always fun, not always stimulating, not always fair,” President Obama said.
Average teens can’t afford to be so choosy.
National employment rates for youth ages 16 to 19 plunged from 52 percent in 1999 to just 32 percent this year, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The president once scooped ice cream at Baskin-Robbins and Michelle worked at a bindery.