Certainly isn't new either - certain fast food chains and big box chains have been hiring shit like the elderly for a while now for pisspoor, menial roles and often times these are elderly folk with low retirement pensions and low social security pensions, so it's not as if they're capable of living 'to the fullest' and enjoying all the luxuries modern life can provide despite the fact they contributed towards society for the majority of their lives and most certainly deserve some element of comfort but to get to your primary point: yes, I completely agree and while that's an entirely way-too-fucking-long rant to get into regarding my own morals and economic positions I will state there has to be some form of structure in place and a way for teenagers to be able to actually figure out where the fuck they're going and what the fuck they're capable of doing when they exit school instead of being immediately shoved into service-based labor.
Youth need something to do exiting school, but something that provides them structure in accordance with their merits whatever their merits may or may not be - shoving them into the modern service industry literally doesn't really teach them anything of any value other than toxic work environments and resentment towards the workplace, there has to be an invisible hand capable of directing them because it's not as if they're immediately fucking adults with an understanding of adult living and careers exiting highschool and the state/government/what-the-fuck-ever should at all times have an obligation to its' children - getting into a somewhat different rant than where I was headed with the previous post, but I basically agree with everything you're saying.
