did not join... thinking

Hello everyone,

Another big challenge is the way we educate our population. We go to school for twelve or more years during our childhoods and early adulthoods, and then we’re done. But when the pace of change gets this fast, the only way to retain a lifelong working capacity is to engage in lifelong learning. There is a whole group of people—judging from the 2016 U.S. election—who “did not join the labor market at age twenty thinking they were going to have to do lifelong learning,” added Teller, and they are not happy about it.

So they didn’t join the labor market and they thought they were going to have to do lifelong learning? Or they joined the labor market and didn’t think they were going to have to do lifelong learning?

Thank you.

Your second interpretation is correct. They joined the labor market a long time ago and now are upset that they have to learn new skills to remain employed.

Thank you, Luschen.