Back in the heady pre-Recession days of 2007, Time Magazine waxed enthusiastic about job prospects for the seventy-some million Americans born between 1979 and 1994. This generation goes by various names: Generation Y, the Echo Boomers, the Millennium Generation, or the Millennials.
Now along come the 76 million members of Generation Y. For these new 20-something workers, the line between work and home doesn't really exist. They just want to spend their time in meaningful and useful ways, no matter where they are.
The first challenge for the companies that want to hire the best young workers is getting them in the door. They are in high demand—the baby boomers are retiring, and many Gen X workers are opting out of long hours—and they have high expectations for personal growth, even in entry-level jobs. More than half of Generation Y's new graduates move back to their parents' homes after collecting their degrees, and that cushion of support gives them the time to pick the job they really want. Taking time off to travel used to be a résumé red flag; today it's a learning experience. And entrepreneurship now functions as a safety net for this generation. They grew up on the Internet, and they know how to launch a viable online business. Facebook, for example, began in a college dorm room.
My, my, how times have changed! The New York Times said it all in the American Dream Is Elusive For A New Generation— “I don’t think I fully understood the severity of the situation I had graduated into,†Scott Nicholson said, speaking in effect for an age group — the so-called millennials, 18 to 29 — whose unemployment rate of nearly 14 percent approaches the levels of that group in the Great Depression. And then he veered into the optimism that, polls show, is persistently, perhaps perversely, characteristic of millennials today. “I am absolutely certain that my job hunt will eventually pay off,†he said.
For young adults, the prospects in the workplace, even for the college-educated, have rarely been so bleak. Apart from the 14 percent who are unemployed and seeking work, as Scott Nicholson is, 23 percent are not even seeking a job, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The total, 37 percent, is the highest in more than three decades and a rate reminiscent of the 1930s.
The college-educated among these young adults are better off. But nearly 17 percent are either unemployed or not seeking work, a record level (although some are in graduate school). The unemployment rate for college-educated young adults, 5.5 percent, is nearly double what it was on the eve of the Great Recession, in 2007, and the highest level — by almost two percentage points — since the bureau started to keep records in 1994 for those with at least four years of college.
Yet surveys show that the majority of the nation’s millennials remain confident, as Scott Nicholson is, that they will have satisfactory careers. They have a lot going for them.
“They are better educated than previous generations and they were raised by baby boomers who lavished a lot of attention on their children,†said Andrew Kohut, the Pew Research Center's director. That helps to explain their persistent optimism, even as they struggle to succeed.
Generation Y may be optimistic—what else would we expect?—but a hopeful outlook alone does not create jobs if they do not exist. The data suggest that we are creating a Lost Generation in America. This Business Week article was written in October, 2009—
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...
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...
Only 46% of people aged 16-24 had jobs in September, the lowest since the government began counting in 1948. The crisis is even hitting recent college graduates. "I've applied for a whole lot of restaurant jobs, but even those, nobody calls me back," says Dan Schmitz, 25, a University of Wisconsin graduate with a bachelor's degree in English who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. "Every morning I wake up thinking today's going to be the day I get a job. I've not had a job for months, and it's getting really frustrating."
The case for action is strong. Governments should act now before the damage gets even worse, argues David G. Blanchflower, an economist at Dartmouth College who recently served on the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England. He's not sure what will work, but he favors trying everything from subsidizing education and training to cutting minimum wages for young people and trainees. "It has to be now," says Blanchflower. "It can't be in two years' time."
It has to be now (in October, 2009). Time grinds inexorably on. The clock is ticking and the jobs situation is not improving. Nor will it, if I am correct.
A decent society has certain obligations it must attend to without fail. One of these is getting the young off to a good start in life so they can build careers and families. On this score, America has failed miserably. The young (18-29) are increasingly staying home with their parents, or accumulating obscene amounts of student debt, or scrounging out an independent living any way they can.
Generation Y may be the first of many lost generations to come. A new period of debt-based "prosperity" like that Ben Bernanke called the Great Moderation (1983-2007) is very unlikely now. Thoughtful observers believe we may have a long period of economic stagnation similar to that experienced by Japan after its stock market & property bubbles collapsed in 1989-1990.
For young people to be screwed this way is tragic & shameful. And I don't see anything we can do about it.
Now along come the 76 million members of Generation Y. For these new 20-something workers, the line between work and home doesn't really exist. They just want to spend their time in meaningful and useful ways, no matter where they are.
The first challenge for the companies that want to hire the best young workers is getting them in the door. They are in high demand—the baby boomers are retiring, and many Gen X workers are opting out of long hours—and they have high expectations for personal growth, even in entry-level jobs. More than half of Generation Y's new graduates move back to their parents' homes after collecting their degrees, and that cushion of support gives them the time to pick the job they really want. Taking time off to travel used to be a résumé red flag; today it's a learning experience. And entrepreneurship now functions as a safety net for this generation. They grew up on the Internet, and they know how to launch a viable online business. Facebook, for example, began in a college dorm room.
My, my, how times have changed! The New York Times said it all in the American Dream Is Elusive For A New Generation— “I don’t think I fully understood the severity of the situation I had graduated into,†Scott Nicholson said, speaking in effect for an age group — the so-called millennials, 18 to 29 — whose unemployment rate of nearly 14 percent approaches the levels of that group in the Great Depression. And then he veered into the optimism that, polls show, is persistently, perhaps perversely, characteristic of millennials today. “I am absolutely certain that my job hunt will eventually pay off,†he said.
For young adults, the prospects in the workplace, even for the college-educated, have rarely been so bleak. Apart from the 14 percent who are unemployed and seeking work, as Scott Nicholson is, 23 percent are not even seeking a job, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The total, 37 percent, is the highest in more than three decades and a rate reminiscent of the 1930s.
The college-educated among these young adults are better off. But nearly 17 percent are either unemployed or not seeking work, a record level (although some are in graduate school). The unemployment rate for college-educated young adults, 5.5 percent, is nearly double what it was on the eve of the Great Recession, in 2007, and the highest level — by almost two percentage points — since the bureau started to keep records in 1994 for those with at least four years of college.
Yet surveys show that the majority of the nation’s millennials remain confident, as Scott Nicholson is, that they will have satisfactory careers. They have a lot going for them.
“They are better educated than previous generations and they were raised by baby boomers who lavished a lot of attention on their children,†said Andrew Kohut, the Pew Research Center's director. That helps to explain their persistent optimism, even as they struggle to succeed.
Generation Y may be optimistic—what else would we expect?—but a hopeful outlook alone does not create jobs if they do not exist. The data suggest that we are creating a Lost Generation in America. This Business Week article was written in October, 2009—
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...
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...
Only 46% of people aged 16-24 had jobs in September, the lowest since the government began counting in 1948. The crisis is even hitting recent college graduates. "I've applied for a whole lot of restaurant jobs, but even those, nobody calls me back," says Dan Schmitz, 25, a University of Wisconsin graduate with a bachelor's degree in English who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. "Every morning I wake up thinking today's going to be the day I get a job. I've not had a job for months, and it's getting really frustrating."
The case for action is strong. Governments should act now before the damage gets even worse, argues David G. Blanchflower, an economist at Dartmouth College who recently served on the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England. He's not sure what will work, but he favors trying everything from subsidizing education and training to cutting minimum wages for young people and trainees. "It has to be now," says Blanchflower. "It can't be in two years' time."
It has to be now (in October, 2009). Time grinds inexorably on. The clock is ticking and the jobs situation is not improving. Nor will it, if I am correct.
A decent society has certain obligations it must attend to without fail. One of these is getting the young off to a good start in life so they can build careers and families. On this score, America has failed miserably. The young (18-29) are increasingly staying home with their parents, or accumulating obscene amounts of student debt, or scrounging out an independent living any way they can.
Generation Y may be the first of many lost generations to come. A new period of debt-based "prosperity" like that Ben Bernanke called the Great Moderation (1983-2007) is very unlikely now. Thoughtful observers believe we may have a long period of economic stagnation similar to that experienced by Japan after its stock market & property bubbles collapsed in 1989-1990.
For young people to be screwed this way is tragic & shameful. And I don't see anything we can do about it.
