Abstract
In this paper, we discuss youth with low educational attainment who are second-generation manual laborers. A case study was undertaken to explore the reasons they chose such jobs. The author worked for a transport company where he observed and interviewed six young men between the ages of 16 and 21. Their choice to enter a manual-labor job was seen to be influenced by the following factors: first, the value norm that gives importance to freedom and independence in their teenage years, and second, the relative comfort and ease of the life-style associated with manual labor when compared with jobs requiring higher levels of education.
