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The Lost Generation (The continuing job crisis is damaging the future of our young people)
Business Week ^ | 10/9/2009 | Peter Coy

Posted on 10/10/2009 4:12:44 PM PDT by 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."

(Excerpt) Read more at businessweek.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bhoeconomy; generationy; globaleconomy; jobless; jobs; obamasfault; unemployment; youth
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To: MrPiper

OH! He had several volunteer jobs. They still didn’t get him in the door to a paying job. It is just a rough time for young men.


81 posted on 10/10/2009 5:22:34 PM PDT by ican'tbelieveit (Join FreeRepublic's Folding@Home team (Team# 36120), KW:Folding)
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To: achilles2000
You are probably right, and those are the very people who get all the private and public money. Leaving those who do the work, get the grades, and are conservative free thinkers, going for degrees in things that matter, (as apposed to lobbyist or community organizing) are left struggling through, if they don't end up dropping out when they don't have silver spoons to fill the void.
82 posted on 10/10/2009 5:24:02 PM PDT by gidget7 (Duncan Hunter-Valley Forge Republican!)
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To: Vision Thing

“Looks like it’s time to bury Gen Y and the obama generation. Next!”

My thought exactly. They voted for him, in droves.


83 posted on 10/10/2009 5:24:38 PM PDT by Beowulf9
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To: FreeSouthernAmerican

Well, he will have me at home. I have been through differential equations. It will all just have to come back to me through exposure.


84 posted on 10/10/2009 5:24:48 PM PDT by ican'tbelieveit (Join FreeRepublic's Folding@Home team (Team# 36120), KW:Folding)
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To: MrPiper
At 16, I showed up at a construction site and said I would work for free for a week.

Sadly, that's illegal in our brave new world.

85 posted on 10/10/2009 5:29:59 PM PDT by buccaneer81 (ECOMCON)
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To: rabscuttle385
Generation Stupid...as opposed to the Baby Boomers who spent like drunken sailors for decades and now expect my generation to clean up their messes *and* pay for their retirement?

I think a lot of them know this now. The baby boomers are leaving us younger people with a seriously messed up nation.

Granted it isn't all of their faults. Many of them are in the right.

86 posted on 10/10/2009 5:45:21 PM PDT by Aglooka (Posting from New Hampshachusetts (Formerly New Hampshire))
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To: SeekAndFind
"You're going to have multiple generations fighting for the jobs that are going to come back in the recovery."

Is this the jobless "recovery" everyone is so excited about?

87 posted on 10/10/2009 5:49:59 PM PDT by Aglooka (Posting from New Hampshachusetts (Formerly New Hampshire))
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To: ican'tbelieveit
There aren’t that many math classes after calculus 3, after all!

That's what you think, LOL!

Matrix/Linear Algebra
Ordinary/Partial Differential Equations (2 semesters)
Complex Variables
Numerical Analysis
Abstract Algebra
Real Analysis
Number Theory
Discrete Mathematics
Computation Theory
Algorithms
Probability/Statistics (2 semesters)

88 posted on 10/10/2009 5:51:07 PM PDT by rabscuttle385 (Kick corrupt Democrats *AND* Republicans out of office in 2010!)
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To: rabscuttle385

(required for that degree!)


89 posted on 10/10/2009 5:52:40 PM PDT by ican'tbelieveit (Join FreeRepublic's Folding@Home team (Team# 36120), KW:Folding)
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To: rabscuttle385; ItsOurTimeNow; PresbyRev; Fraulein; StoneColdGOP; Clemenza; m18436572; InShanghai; ..
Xer Ping

Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.

Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.

90 posted on 10/10/2009 5:58:24 PM PDT by qam1 (There's been a huge party. All plates and the bottles are empty, all that's left is the bill to pay)
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To: FreeSouthernAmerican
Just in defense of the guy, not all of us understand that stuff. You would not imagine how much effort I put into understanding it and I just did not get it. I barely got through college algebra. There is no way I would have gotten through calculus or any other thing like that. For all you know the guy made a 4.0 in his field.

My advice for people who aren't good at advanced math would be to major in accounting. It's much better than most liberal arts majors for job prospects, and it's better than finance, marketing, etc. It only requires basic math, rally (maybe you'll need advanced math for Black Scholes, but there are spreadsheets for that).

The big four accounting firms need to hire lots of auditors, even in times of economic downturn. While computer programming jobs can be outsourced, it's more difficult to outsource accounting. People need to be on site to review books and records, and many companies won't trust having their records sent to Bangalore.

The big 4 set the standards that the industry uses, so they'll make sure their industry remains stable. They're partnerships, so no pressure from outside shareholders to cut staff.

All companies with over 100 employees need accountants within their own company, and the big 4 has offices around the country.

91 posted on 10/10/2009 6:02:39 PM PDT by Koblenz (The Dem Platform, condensed: 1. Tax and Spend. 2. Cut and Run. 3. Man on Man)
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To: SeekAndFind

With a BA in English, I have a news flash for Danny there:

“Keep looking. You’re going to be looking for a long time.”

If he had gone to a trade school or community college, and gotten a AS or certificate in welding, diesel mechanics or machining, he would be so busy he wouldn’t have time to talk to reporters.

Right now, the American Welding Society estimates that there will be upwards of 200K welding jobs open in the US economy in the next couple of years. Companies are scratching the earth, looking for people who can weld, show up for work and put in a full day without whining about how hard the work is. Pay goes up to about $30/hour, with a lot of overtime available in many jobs.

But these jobs mean that you can’t sit in a cubicle and screw off. These jobs also require that a person get dirty.

Of course, there are welding jobs that don’t require getting as dirty - eg, TIG welding. But that takes even more skill.

The jobs are there for the taking. The expense required to get the training is quite modest compared to the tuition for a four-year school. Why aren’t young people pursuing these jobs? Because the media, Congress, their parents, guidance counselors, etc — all have demonized people who get dirty.


92 posted on 10/10/2009 6:12:34 PM PDT by NVDave
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To: SeekAndFind

Most of these folks voted for Dims. The very people who are utterly destroying their future. Bright indeed. Some, but little, sympathy.


93 posted on 10/10/2009 6:12:58 PM PDT by Nuc1 (NUC1 Sub pusher SSN 668 (Liberals Aren't Patriots))
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To: ican'tbelieveit

You can get a LOT of jobs without a BA degree.

You have to have a skill that makes the company money. Most young people with BA degrees cannot do that, however.

There are literally hundreds of thousands of jobs out there that don’t need a BA or BS. Sure, the employers will look at people with BA/BS’s, but they’re not needed.

Danny there is pounding the pavement, looking for a very low wage job... when if Danny didn’t have his head up his posterior, he could be making $18/hour driving a mining truck in circles all day. No BA needed, only a high school diploma or GED, a clean driving record, a requirement that you show up for your shift ON TIME, READY TO WORK, and that you be able to pass a random drug test on demand. That’s it.

$18/hour, plus bennies and safety bonuses at the end of the year - which sometimes go as high as $10K.

The one hitch? He’s going to get dirty and tired driving a mining haul truck. Poor woobie.

Mechanics fixing said haul trucks get from $22 up to $35/hour, plus bennies and safeties. No BA/BS needed. The only hitch is that these guys get even dirtier than the drivers do.


94 posted on 10/10/2009 6:18:07 PM PDT by NVDave
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To: ican'tbelieveit

On top of that make sure that with your CS degree that you can code in a few major programming languages and do it well. Some CS programs churn out horrible programmers. It wouldn’t hurt to get some certifications from microsoft or cicso as well.

Even with all of that you may get priced out by some H1B imports who will work for around 25K a year.


95 posted on 10/10/2009 6:18:15 PM PDT by ccc_jr (Don't Tread on Me)
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To: MrPiper

Bingo. You’re my #1 example now - show up, ready to work, actually DO work, actually GET DIRTY... and lo! You have been employed without a problem.


96 posted on 10/10/2009 6:19:59 PM PDT by NVDave
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To: AGreatPer
I guess it pays to open your mouth and have some luck too.

I agree. And luck is when an opportunity meets a prepared mind.


97 posted on 10/10/2009 6:20:01 PM PDT by rdb3 (The mouth is the exhaust pipe of the heart.)
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To: FreeSouthernAmerican

Everyone has their area of excellence. find it and you will be happy and productive provided the government doesn’t completely destroy the economy. Never vote Democrat. At least until they become conservatives.


98 posted on 10/10/2009 6:22:18 PM PDT by Nuc1 (NUC1 Sub pusher SSN 668 (Liberals Aren't Patriots))
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To: rabscuttle385

You nailed it.

Throw in the three-dimensional stuff for fields and waves, which isn’t taught in a math class... it is taught in (oddly enough) “Fields and Waves.”


99 posted on 10/10/2009 6:22:38 PM PDT by NVDave
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To: spikeytx86
Generation Y aren’t even Parents yet by and large. As for Gen X and Gen Y being worse, all of the problems we face today are the fault of the Boomers and the “Greatest Generation”. But guess who get’s stuck with their mess!

Do you need a tissue?

100 posted on 10/10/2009 6:23:45 PM PDT by SnuffaBolshevik
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