Young People Wait Out the Recession…and Their Youth

[marmar]

from In These Times:



Young People Wait Out the Recession…and Their Youth

Wednesday
March 3
9:44 am

By Michelle Chen


Young workers may not know it, but the jobs crisis threatens to turn what should be the best years of their lives into another “lost generation."

In addition to sky-high unemployment rates, 16 to 24 year olds, according to the Economic Policy Institute, are simply leaving behind the economy that has forsaken them. Since December of 2007, “The labor force participation rate for workers age 16-24 has decreased from 59.1% to 54.7% in the 25 months since the recession started, representing a loss of 1.3 million young workers.”

Another perverse aspect of this trend is that people on the other end of the age spectrum are working more: the labor force participation rate for workers 55 and older rose slightly by 2.3 million workers. These folks aren't working because they're bored; many likely are just too poor to retire, or are scrambling to make up for savings lost in the implosion of Wall Street.

Do young people have anything to look forward to in this upside-down economy?

The inequalities embedded in the country's young workforce are growing more pronounced. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/5642/young_people_wait_out_the_recessionand_their_youth/

[thunder rising]

1. I can see it in a couple of years: go look for a job! How do you do that?

What's it like?

[OnlinePoker]

3. Same thing happened in 1980

When I graduated, it was the tail end of the baby boom. There were no jobs to go to. After 1 1/2 years of knocking on every door I could, I finally joined the military as a stop gap. 28 years later, I'm still waiting for something else to come along.

[WCGreen]

14. I had the same problem...

[dysfunctional press]

17. class of 1979...and i still don't know what i want to be when i grow up...

[stray cat]

2. And others are dropping out of high school or graduating but unable to read, write, add or subtract

and never having held a job where they had to show up for work on a regular basis

[Hestia]

5. Yeah, down here they can't keep new hires in the paper mills - they work a day or two and

call in sick. Very high paying jobs for the area too. I just don't get it. OTOH - first thought when I read the article, 2nd or Black Economy will be created.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. It's the "leveling of the playing field" that everyone likes to talk about.

In effect, the playing field of competition with wages in emerging economies is taking place. While the wages in 3rd world countries slowly rise, ours slowly decline.

[invictus]

6. K&R

[HeresyLives]

7. Good gawd, it's only been what...a year?

I know youth is fleeting, but that's really pushing it.

[thunder rising]

8. 'scuse me. But real reports have come out that the jobs will not come back and unemployment is here

to stay. It's only been the first year of a 10 year sentence.

[HeresyLives]

10. Manufacturing jobs won't come back. So?

Is that all our youth can think of to do?

[Dappleganger]

9. Hard to compete with baristas who have masters degrees. nt

[Radical Activist]

11. I personally know four baristats with masters.

The temporary job while they look for something else goes on for 6 months, a year, two years.

[HeresyLives]

12. In Canada the story is cab drivers with PhDs.

We supposedly have the best educated cabbies on the planet. :rofl:

[Johonny]

13. Young people?

Many Gen-Xers spent their prime working years in the Bush economic and it's aftermath. Many people have been waiting nearly a decade now for the economy to pick up.

[RagAss]

15. People with PHDs are selling Hot Dogs out of a cart on the Sunrise Highway !!!!!

That can't be true...but it sounds good.

[omega minimo]

16. Welcome to being the new Reagan Youth!!

although back then they were called PUNKS!!