[wittyreference]

The real earning power of minimum wage (aka, the standard teenage job) has declined by, what, 70% since the 70s? If it's more expensive, in real terms, to have a car, to rent a hotel room, to go out, then yes, it's going to be more difficult to get laid.

[the_af]

You can have sex while living with your parents, no car or hotel rooms needed. Not having money to go out might be a problem to meet people, true.

Note that in many countries, teenagers owning cars (and related activities) are not as prevalent as in the US. When I was a teenager, almost nobody I knew owned a car, and we all used public transportation, so there was no (dating) car culture around this.

[PurpleFoxy]

There is a difference between “you can” and “you will bother to when there are plenty of easier and equally enjoyable things to do.”

[the_af]

I know I did bother. Sex is very interesting when you're a teenager.

Like I said, other countries don't have the same car-centric culture of the US. We've been managing to successfully have sex -- and find sex interesting -- without such an early access to cars!