The Lost Generation

[AllentownJake]

Bright, eager—and unwanted. While unemployment is ravaging just about every part of the global workforce, the most enduring harm is being done to young people who can't grab onto the first rung of the career ladder.

Affected are a range of young people, from high school dropouts, to college grads, to newly minted lawyers and MBAs across the developed world from Britain to Japan. One indication: In the U.S., the unemployment rate for 16- to 24-year-olds has climbed to more than 18%, from 13% a year ago.

For people just starting their careers, the damage may be deep and long-lasting, potentially creating a kind of "lost generation." Studies suggest that an extended period of youthful joblessness can significantly depress lifetime income as people get stuck in jobs that are beneath their capabilities, or come to be seen by employers as damaged goods.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_42/b4151032038302.htm
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These kids aren't in the unemployment numbers.

[Luminous Animal]

1. My 19 year old daughter has been looking for a steady part-time job

for two years while going to college. She's only been able to pick up irregular piece work, baby sitting, and earning some money busking for tourists.

[mdmc]

11. busking for tourists?

what an interesting word..

[ixion]

2. "come to be seen by employers as damaged goods"

which is ironic, since what they seek to do to US employees is damage them.

[corpseratemedia]

3. what will these kids be able to buy when they're older?

new cars, clothing, houses, insurance..?

the consumer economy is dead and finished, and they, because the future doesn't matter in this late stage, pay the price.

[annabanana]

4. With two sons in this demographic... I am pretty worried.

My newly graduated 22 year old has been job hunting since before he got his degree. I'm keeping a cheerful countenence and an upbeat mood (You'll get some responses) for his sake. If he starts to feel defeated it'll be hard to bring him back up.

[juno jones]

23. My kid isn't working either.

We hope to get him some work study at the college. Of course, now I have to jump thru the income hoops yet again, I wish I could get him on his own where he will qualify for assistance easier...but then he needs a job to move out...:shrug:

[BeHereNow]

28. Don't encourage the move out... I want mine to come home.

Mine has been out on her own since she was eighteen.

I lay awake at night worrying myself sick about how she
lives, what she does to survive out there. (See my post below)

I think more and more kids are going to be living at home;
those who are fortunate enough to have parents who
allow it, that is.

She has friends who are squatting in abandoned buildings
because they have no where else to go, as in their parents
really don't care.

The military is delighted with the plight of our young homeless
and unemployed. It means more recruits due to economic necessity
and no other options.

I think it is by design, to serve the corporate interests.

BHN

[Greyhound]

30. This "shot in the arm" (50s parlance, how do you like that?) to the military

is, I feel, a major component of this ongoing betrayal. The draft made the sheeple angry because their kids were vulnerable to the parasite's loot-fest, so they ended that and the flock went back to sleep, but then there weren't enough young people desperate or duped enough to jump into the meat-grinder to keep the parasites happy.

Now that the desperation quotient is rising, enlistments are up again.

[BeHereNow]

27. I'm right there with you... it is bleak out there for our kids

Doesn't matter how skilled or hard working they are- what sort of
honors they carry on their resumes.

There simply ARE NOT any jobs.

My daughter's solution has been to join a commune sort of living situation.
She does have two prestigious internships under her belt, along with one
job at a famous company, but no matter how many resumes she sends out,
and with all that she has accomplished in 22 years, she doesn't even get a call
back acknowledging her submission. Only ONE.

She is very discouraged, as am I for her.

It's a very bad time to be a young person, period.

BHN

[stray cat]

5. No more free lunch - not long ago college graduates planned on making employers beg them to work

[asdjrocky]

6. Free lunch?

I see these young adults working very hard for their lunch and then going away from the bounty of the rich, hungry.

[AllentownJake]

7. How about a job interview

[wolfgangmo]

12. Bitter much?

We work with interns who are in this age range. They are all hard working, consciencious, and have great skills.

And ain't a one of them asking me to beg.

[TexasObserver]

8. None of this is news or unexpected.

This happens every major recession, but you think it's unique because this is the first time you're been aware during a recession.

It's unfortunate when we're in a recession or trying to come out of one, and young people cannot find jobs, but that doesn't alter the fact that recession and recovery are taking place.

I've been trying to discern a difference between your threads and those one might expect at a non progressive site, and there is no difference.

[AllentownJake]

9. You really have nothing to ever add

You just accuse me of being against the administration or somehow not progressive because I think that Tim Geithner, Ben Bernake, and Larry Summers are bad advisers. How about actually addressing the content of a post instead of just spouting bullshit.

I got news for you, I started out in the job market during the last economic recession. What the kids coming out of college are facing compared to what I faced is exponentially worse.

When everyone even the CNBC types will acknowledge this is the worst recession in 60 years and you try to compare it to 2001 and 1993 you are the one who looks like a giant joke. When people are talking about a jobless recovery and you sit there with your cheerleader skirt on you look like a fool.

[JVS]

13. +1

[TexasObserver]

16. I don't compare it to 1993 or 2001, but to 1987. That was a bad one, too.

I know that every day you'll start your Chicken Little threads about how an acorn fell on your head when you watched the news today, and the sky is falling.

I don't care for some of the president's advisors and I certainly don't care for some of the things they have done, but unlike you, I'm not clueless about what is going on in the economy. You are driven by fear and ignorance, and those are the two things that are most obvious in your posts about the economy.

You're afraid, and you don't understand what a recovery is.

[AllentownJake]

20. There you go again

Instead or responding to the content of a post with numbers showing a recovery or facts, you sit here and name call.

If my Chicken Little Post so disturb you how about this, how about you ignore them. I'm presenting actual economic data. You are providing a whole bunch of talk and hot air. If you disagree with the numbers that is fine, if you have counter evidence fine, but you resort to the only thing your intellectually capable of which is name calling.

Instead of responding to the content of the OP with numbers showing something different outside of the NY stock exchange, than maybe we can have a discussion.

I got news for you, for as smart as you say you are, calling someone stupid and saying how smart you are without anything to back it up, isn't exactly the way to convince me what a genius you are. Shows your age and experience as well. I'm guessing you've never had any sales training :rofl:

[SammyWinstonJack]

18. +2

:thumbsup:

[TexasObserver]

22. Happy now?

Here's a by-the-numbers look at the stock market and the economy since the eight-day crash one year ago:

• $11.2 trillion: Total losses in the stock market from the Dow's peak in October 2007 to the March 2009 bottom.

• $4.6 trillion: Total gains in the stock market since March 9.

• 6: The number of the 10 worst point drops in the 113-year history of the Dow that occurred in 2008. The 777-point drop on Sept. 29, 2008, ranks No. 1.

• 3: The number of the 10 worst percentage drops that occurred in 2008. The Sept. 29 decline of 9 percent is the third-biggest behind 22.6 percent on Oct. 19, 1987, and 10 percent on April 14, 2000.

• 92 percent: Decrease in Citigroup Inc.'s share price from Oct. 10, 2008, ($13.90) to March 9 ($1.05).

• 341 percent: Increase in Citigroup's share price from March 9 to Friday's close of $4.63.

• 18-20: The historical average for the Volatility Index of the Chicago Board Options Exchange, also known as the VIX, or "Fear Index."

• 89: Where the VIX peaked last October.

• 23: Where the VIX was on Friday.

• 16 percent: The amount by which the Dow's closing level on Friday was higher than its average close the previous 200 days. Earlier this month the number hit 20 percent, the highest since the early 1980s.

• $6.5 trillion: Value of assets in stock mutual funds at end of 2007.

• $3.7 trillion: Value at the end of 2008.

• $4.5 trillion: Value at the end of August.

• -$72 billion: Net cash flow (money put in minus money taken out) for stock mutual funds in October 2008.

• -$25 billion: Net cash flow in March.

• $4 billion: Net cash flow in August.

• $9: The amount, out of every $10 investors put into mutual funds in August, that went into bond funds.

• $855.40: The price of an ounce of gold on Oct. 10, 2008.

• $1,048.60: The price of an ounce of gold on Friday.

• 6.2 percent: Unemployment rate a year ago.

• 9.8 percent: Unemployment rate today.

• 95.2: Consumer confidence two years ago. Reading above 90 means the economy is on solid footing; above 100 signals strong growth.

• 25.3: Consumer confidence in February — record low.

• 53.1: Consumer confidence today.

• 2.8 percent: Decline in retail sales in October and December 2008.

• 2.7 percent: Increase in retail sales in August.

• 4.75 percent: Federal funds rate two years ago.

• 1 percent: Fed funds rate last October.

• 0 - 0.25 percent: Fed funds rate today.

• 4.81 percent: London interbank offered rate (LIBOR), the amount banks charge each other to borrow money for three months, at its peak, on Oct. 10, 2008.

_0.28 percent: Three-month LIBOR rate Friday.

• -0.5 percent: Personal savings rate in 2005 as home prices were soaring.

• 6.9 percent: Personal savings rate in May.

• $975 billion: Credit card debt held by Americans last September.

• $899 billion: Credit card debt held at the end of August, down 8 percent.

• 7 million: Home resales in 2005, a record year.

• 4.5 million: Home resales in January at annual rate.

• 5.1 million: Home resales in August at annual rate.

• $245,000: Median price of homes sold in 2006 — record high.

• $213,000: Median price of homes sold last October.

• $195,000: Median price of homes sold in August.

[SidneyCarton]

10. There is a danger in this.

Alienated generations are low-hanging fruit for extremist ideologies.

[JVS]

14. SWEET!

[lonestarnot]

17. Yes they are, We have our work cut out for us on the push-back.

One way is through a public option on all insurance, not just healthcare.

[Brigid]

31. Yes indeed.

That's where the Brown Shirts came from.

[lonestarnot]

15. This totally sucks ass when it doesn't have to be.

Richies are bound and determined to create this slave class. We need to get creative and turn the tables on them in cooperative advancements and starve them the fuck out.

[treestar]

19. Wait, I thought it was older people who weren't getting jobs?

And the younger were hired because they are cheaper?

The media just tries to get you down. They try to discourage you no matter who you are.

[Greyhound]

32. These people's kids are not media propaganda.

And older people are screwed, too. We are evolving into a society of pure nepotism/cronyism.

This is reality.

[KillCapitalism]

21. The Germans have got it right.

"One possible example for the U.S. to follow is Germany's apprenticeship program, which guides young people from high school into skilled blue-collar jobs. Young-adult unemployment in Germany has risen less than in most other developed countries."

Apparently they don't buy into the everyone should go to college trend that's happened here for years. Not everyone can be an engineer, a middle manager, or a nurse, but they need some occupation where they can make a decent living. Many of the blue collar jobs pay better than a lot of white collar jobs. A friend of mine is an electrician with the IBEW. He's a journeyman now and making $30 an hour with just a HS diploma. I have a 4-yr. degree and barely make half that amount.

[juno jones]

24. +1

We also need to eliminate the need for trade school degrees for what are essentially service jobs that one can pick up in the workplace or as a working apprentice. I see kids coming out of tech-type cooking schools now that know next to nothing, owe tens of thousands of dollars and most will never make enough money with those skills to pay the debts off comfortably.

I am still haunted by the second death of a woman in Iraq so many years ago. All she wanted to do was cook, and she had to go into the army to pay for that education...one I got for free (excepting my labor, and they paid ME!) fifteen years before.

Apprenticeships rock!

[BeHereNow]

25. My daughter too... soon to be 23 and can't find a job-TOTALLY discouraged.

She is on her SECOND internship, paid almost nothing, and living in
commune of sorts with approximately 20 other young people who are
in the same boat; they live in a large Victorian house and occupy
both floors.

They dumpster dive, collect thrown out bakery bread and such
and share the goods and their gardening results as a collective group.

Among them are college graduates and others who have been searching for
jobs for years.

They have many friends who are simply squatting in abandoned buildings.
I have met several of the squatters and indeed they ARE the lost generation.
Bright kids who are living on the fringes through no fault of their own.
There are no jobs for them and their parents either can't help them
financially or simply have told them they are on their own, deal with it.

I admire their collective courage and sincere attempt to survive
in a country that doesn't give a shit about them.

Ii also think this is why we have no official draft yet- the war mongers
know that many of these young people will enlist voluntarily just
to have a roof over their heads and three meals a day and some access to
a dentist and occasional doctor visit.

My daughter knows that she is always welcome to move home, but
really is attempting to have her own life, no matter what.

I think in the long run, these kids are actually going to be more
prepared to met the downfall of the empire better than most
of us here on DU, as far as survival goes.

BHN

[BeHereNow]

26. K&R btw... n/t

bhn

[BeHereNow]

29. Kick for the Tuesday crowd. Thanks AJ, for this post.

These kids are not even counted in the unemployed statistics
or in the uninsured number of Americans.
BHN

[XemaSab]

33. I'm 32 and I've been unemployed for 2 years

I'm not at the bottom of the ladder, or at the top. The problem is that in my field, employers either want warm bodies or experts. :shrug: