I must say around here age is not a factor. There are tons of worthless people of all ages, and genders. I turn 34 this year and have worked at a real job since I was 14. The only time I have ever got anything from the govt was to pay for the birth of my kids. Me and my mom have a business together (handy man, caretaking, repair work, etc). We have hired and fired people of all ages. I have to say most of the young people that have worked for us were decent workers. The biggest problem was getting them to work, and making sure they didn't screw something up. It was usually older people (30s-50s), who had the same issues as the younger people, but they also never really got anything done at the job. We have had our business for 15 years now, and we have just decided to keep it small. We usually keep one person on full time, and know enough people we can normally grab a few if we need help with something. Finding good help is pretty much impossible.