Gift shopping has seemed even more difficult this year. With the holiday season here, Poway students are thinking about how they can afford gifts.
“Inflation sucks, buying gifts for my family, and spending $800 dollars as a high schooler is hard,’’ junior Callan Wood said. Wood says the only way he is able to afford gifts this year is by working at a job and saving up all year.
“The money I get from my job I spend on more fun things, and my mom pays for daily necessities,” senior Xavier Aflleje said, and many high school students can agree. With the job market already scarce, many people still want to be able to spend time with family and friends– especially around the holidays.
“Finding a job is typically rough around the holidays since businesses need workers, but you want to spend time with your family. It’s also hard when not many places are hiring, so you can’t get the job you want or find something easily,” junior Sophia Georggin said.
San Diego is ranked as the most expensive city in the nation by USAtoday. Daily necessities like gas, housing, clothing, health care, and groceries have gone up 7.7% since last year according to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics. Meanwhile, from 2021 to 2022 the job market decreased.
The amount of jobs that were available compared to the amount of people on unemployment during COVID was unbalanced, and inflation rose. Now in 2023, looking into 2024, we are still seeing the cost of living with costs high compared to pay still remaining low, which makes it incredibly hard to live.
Many students will need to find a job to help support themselves and their families. The most accessible jobs for high school students are fast food restaurants and other fast-paced community work.
With a time-limited schedule as a student wanting to have time to be with family, there are limited options and high competition for part-time work.
The need to make enough money to support yourself and have the benefit of extra money to spend on the holidays makes job-hunting difficult.
Though many may not celebrate Christmas as their winter holiday, many other end-of-year celebrations also exchange gifts, which can be hard for many to keep up with if they cannot afford to buy gifts on their own.