The Lost Generation (The continuing job crisis is damaging the future of our young people)

Business Week ^ | 10/9/2009 | Peter Coy

[SeekAndFind]

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, 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 climbed to more than 18%, from 13% a year ago.

For people just starting their careers, the damage may be deep, 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.

Equally important, employers are likely to suffer from the scarring of a generation. The freshness and vitality young people bring to the workplace is missing. Tomorrow's would-be star employees are on sidelines, deprived of experience and losing motivation. In Japan, which has been down this road since the early 1990s, workers who started their careers a decade or more ago and are now in their 30s account for 6 in 10 reported cases of depression, stress, work-related mental disabilities, according to Japan Productivity Center for Socio-Economic Development.

When today's unemployed finally do get jobs in the recovery, many may be dissatisfied to be slotted below people who worked all along—especially if the newcomers spent their downtime getting more education, says Richard Thompson, vice-president for talent development at Adecco Group North America, which employs more than 300,000 people in temporary positions. Says Thompson: "You're going to have multiple generations fighting for the jobs that are going to come back in the recovery."

[SnuffaBolshevik]

So is this how you spend your time, leaving anonymous smart ass comments from the safety of your keyboard and anonymity? Get a clue.

Should one use "anonymous" and "anonymity" in the same sentence? Also, wouldn't the correct term be "smart assed?"

P.M. me. I'll be glad to tell you who I am.

Failing that, I'll repeat what has previously been said, "I've got mine, you've got yours to git."

Have a wonderful life.

[rbg81]

Well, my son is a Chem Eng major (sophmore). I just hope things improve by the time he graduates.

[GOP_1900AD]

Yes.

“Government IS the problem!” - R.W. Reagan