Youth unemployment crisis warning: "Lost generation" blighted by debt, depression & self-loathing

I am a Labour Relations Manager, lucky enough to still have a job. As many of you are aware, when times get tough, folks of my ilk are the first to go.

I am one of he lucky few.

Part of my job has been executioner in that I'm the one who sits across the table from a soon-to-be-ex-employee and tell them I'm pulling the rug from under their feet. . . . the look in their eyes . . . I see the instant despair . . . the fear . . . the disappointment . . . the confusion . . . the sadness.

We used to have 400 employees. We now have 70. We used to provide employment for students during the summer months to spell off vacations and gave those who came in, interviewed well, acted respectfully and generally gave an effort an opportunity to gain experience and save a few bucks for school.

We haven't had 'summer students' in four years, and we've stil got 40 people on the recall list. The others have taken severance packages in an attempt to hold on for a bit longer . .. waiting for the economic tides to change yet many have found it's the same endless procession . . . wave after wave of economic bad news that keeps the job market at bay.

I am less than a year shy of 50. There's a daily stream of people coming to my office unsolicited with resumes and stories . . . and the same looks of despair, sadness, fear, loss, confusion . . . and I have to tell them the same thing . . . we aren't hiring. The Big 3 still send jobs overseas and until we can cut our costs even more, we're never the winning bid on new work.

I tell them that as a company, we are slowly dying.

Some thank me for my time and honesty . . . some plead for any kind of work available. Several have offered to do anything for a chance . . . it is horrible to tell them we have nothing for them. Often, when I go home, I sit and think of those I turned away that day and wonder what they are doing . .. how they are surviving. I must admit there are days where I strongly consider that if the next 25 years are the same as this, I'm not much feeling all warm and fuzzy about doin' the time, so to speak.

AND I HAVE A JOB . . . A HOUSE . . . FOOD ON THE TABLE . . . . . I've still got almost all the things I need to survive, but with all that is going on in this world the one thing I find sorely lacking is the will to do so. Again, I'm one of the lucky ones.

I guess my point is that it's not only today's younger people who are lost in the sea of life, cut adrift by assholes such as myself and left to try to piece together what is left of their lives. It is a systemic symptom of the terminal illness around the globe.

And the patient is on life support. Sadly, the one's left responsible for pulling the plug don't give a rat's ass because they don't face on a daily basis what most of us . . . the young, the middle-aged, the elderly . . . face.

Again . . . it's not just today's youth and it isn't generation specific . . . it's 99 percent of the people who inhabit this planet . . .

I'm in this position and i'll be phoniest, art first, I was a bit depressed, I began to self loathe, but shook that off, now all that the situation does is anger and inspire me. In a way i'm thankful for it.

With little or no Jobs anywhere ...

How about the military.

Maybe that's part of the reason for the American worker downgrade that has been increasing exponentially for the last 40 years.

The U.S. is getting deeper and deeper into wars and conflicts.

The draft may soon come back.

What are the psychological effects on military personnel ?

I hate to tell the 16-26 year old demo, but the 30-41 year old demo ie, GenerationX is the original depressed, anxiety ridden, screwed over generation.

GenX are the first generation to NOT have a standard of living higher than that of their parents.
GenX are a generation of latchkey kids left at home by two working parents. GenX'rs are the first generation to have to compete not only with their parents but also with their longer living longer working grandparents for jobs. GenX are the first generation to be saddled with care of the boomer and baby boomers who are all coming of "age" at once. GenX is faced with caring for four generations of family at once. Grandparents, parents, themselves, and their own kids. GenerationX is the first generation guaranteed to be denied their social security benefits etc because the boomers will have long eaten up the funds. And yet, the GenX is far enough along in life that there won't be time for solutions.

Originally posted by sonnny1
reply to post by Partygirl

 

Well PartyGirl,This bloggers opinion is something to think about...................

How do you like this Change, all you @#$%^& SNL and MTV watching youths who voted for Obama? Well, maybe now you can beg for change on the street corner, thanks to Obama.

I guarantee there are two reasons why the jobs market for youth suck. First, the Congress has nearly doubled the minimum wage over the last four years. Second, employers are too afraid of tax increases to expand or hire. The result is that there are no entry level jobs in the USA.

If a promise seems too good to be true, it probably is BS!!

52.2% OF YOUTH BETWEEN 16 AND 24 ARE UNEMPLOYED!

So much for your blogger friends opinion - Maybe you need to do some more research.

You are thinking all this came to pass in the past 4 years? Go back a little bit farther. This mess was left by the Bushes and nobody returned with a pooper scooper to pick it up.

So now you and the rest of us are stepping in it.

We had a 3 trillion dollar surplus before GWB took office.

Do you know how much 3 trillion dollars is?

A stack of $1000 bills would be over 200 miles high.

This surplus was squandered on tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans
A prescription drug pushing scam on the elderly and a couple of questionable wars.



You are complaining because Obama suggests lower cost to educate our kids or save something to give to the poor? You had no problem starting those wars, pumping the elderly full of prescription drugs so companies like Squibb and Pfizer can clean up, no problem giving tax cuts to the rich?

When he left office the USA was in a crisis that no one could fix in a hurry.
We still are. GWB never even included the cost of the 2 wars in our National debt!!!
He figured if he didn't mention it we might forget and it appears to have worked on you.

Did you think Obama was going to come along, wave a magic wand and make that debt disappear?

Do you think anyone that elected him did?

Make jobs return to America? Make corporate magnates that got rich here in America think they owe America something? You think Obama or any President could have done that? Maybe Hans Christian Anderson could make it happen - but reality bites.

reply to post by Partygirl


How do we change the economy? Why do we have to depend on jobs in the "corporate sector"? Can we create alternatives?

Thanks, btw. S&F&

reply to post by newcovenant


Yawn.....................

Im mixed by decent,so your interpretation of "blaming it on the black man" is ironic to me,to say the least.

Lets go back a few years.............Before Bush.

Bill Clinton.

Giving China "Most favored Nation Status" didnt hurt America?



NAFTA?


Really,blame is easy to come by.

Now back to the current POTUS...........................

Do you know what he "promised" to the youth of America,especially the black youth?

As of July 2010, while white youth unemployment rate was 16.2 percent, the jobless rates for black youth was double: A whopping 33.4 percent.

LINK



Just remember this.............

"I want you to hold me accountable" — Barack Obama

reply to post by AlreadyGone


This is probably because the typical way of doing things is that you go in, fill out an application, and then are called in for an interview at a later date. It's rare to have people who want to interview you on the spot, and that probably has a lot to do with it.

In my opinion, The unemployed youth have shouldered the changes and used it as an opportunity to reinvent the American life.

I'm 25, unemployed, and for the most part, loving it. I always felt like I was 20 years too late in my early working life. In 2006 I did a season of Alaskan fishing; purse seining in SouthEast AK. What would have earned me a years' wages in the 80's instead netted me about 5 grand for a 3 month job.
Then I spent the next 5 years becoming a semi-accomplished carpenter. Not quite journeyman probably, but a damn good hand to have on a serious variety of jobs.
In this field, I saw firsthand that I was very late to the party. I noticed that the workers were building houses not even the leads could afford. We would be remodeling strip mall suites which would never house a mom-and-pop anything.

Anyway, long story short; Post-Recession I saw my pay go up about $1 every year, but by the final time I was laid off I was run completely F%*&ing ragged... Doing the work of 3 employees, coming down with illness; Social/family/health everything was suffering..... and the moral of the story? I was getting NOWHERE

This is what the youth are learning. The American Dream is DEAD, gone... Buried, finished... Quit even mourning
There is no more house, kids, car, marriage for the 20-somethings

The confusion lies in what to do about it.
There are plenty of kids who drink and smoke more, get caught up in dramatic criminal schemes, get depressed or give up.
But for the most part, I see a lot of ADAPTATION. My peers are teaming up, living together, sharing more, learning more diverse skills.... The best part is that more and more of their activities completely undermine or leave out the corporate middle-man.

As for me? I've adapted... I share expenses with family and friends... I take odd jobs for cash or trade. My girlfriend and I produce goods/art/crafts/food for cash or trade... We live simply, and from the bottom up. And the best part is my health, my time, my relationships everything is BETTER since I've lost my 30K per year job


THE NEW PARADIGM IS NEAR FOLKS!!!

/rant

reply to post by soficrow


I have to agree with you...

It may sound lame to some but I am thinking about selling stuff on Etsy.
I am very artistic/creative and have come up with some ideas. The people selling some of the things I plan on making and selling are making anywhere from 1000-6000 sales a year with the avg item costing 8-10$.

It will bring in a little extra income. I know some things that are really selling right now are repainted/retro furniture and wood pcs., hand made/upcycled clothing, and hair accessories. Screen printed T's sell really well. Handmade anything seems to be the way to go. I love getting handmade clothing for my girls..they are made well and by people in the USA/AUS. Since etsy sells to the whole world it's not like a seller is dependent on people in one place to make sales.

Just something to think about..

reply to post by sonnny1




Hey thanks but I am not the one who is making the false accusations.

Neither are you actually... standing behind a blogger.

I am not providing a lecture either since I am not apportioning BLAME.
I think GWB did what he thought was right and what he had to do.
Fact remains he helped to bankrupt the country.
Appreciate the time you spend pushing your personal agenda but I don't need the history lesson to prove your inuendo wrong.

reply to post by xuenchen



I grew up military, but ideologically I was a tree hugging hippie. I wanted peace and thought soldiers were these killers with no soul. I could not wait until I turned 18 and got the hell away from the military culture. I was way too intellectual, way too sophisticated, way too liberal for the stifling conservative nature of military life.

I never managed to get away from the military. Right now, I am thankful I never got away fro the military. The military right now is one of the few jobs that still hire In the area where I am from. I am not going to be a cheerleader for the military, because it takes a specific kind of personality to join the military--it is definetly not for everyone, but if a person can psychologically handle it then the military is one of the best jobs out there right now.

Many people join up, do their tour and get the hell out, they take their gi bill and go off to college. Good for them, i say. Many join up, do their time, get out, go back home and realize "home" is no longer home.....then they re-up. Then there are those who join and stay cause they got no where else to go, usually these are the guys and girls who eventually get kicked out.

There is a small percentage that join and stay for ideological reasons, but they are indeed rare. Another subset of this group would be those who join out of family tradition.

I would never encourage anyone to join the military, simply for personal reasons,but if a person does not share my moral scruples, and they are willingly to make the hard decisions military service entails and are psychologically prepared to accept the consequences, then joining the military has so many advantages. There is a high psychological price you pay when you join--and if you chose to stay in and make a career of it, you will need to have faith in something.....purple glitter unicorns, Starbucks coffee, god, Buddha, Allah, Jesus, tacos, lipgloss, fluffy bunnies,you name it....but the one thing you 100% MUST have faith in to be a career soldier is YOURSELF.

reply to post by newcovenant


Never said Bush didnt help Bankrupt this country....................

But its Obamas watch now,and he clearly wants me to hold him accountable for not coming through with his promises.

No innuendo,just the facts........

His words,not mine.

reply to post by Neopan100


You should do it!! That's exactly the kind of adaptation I'm talking about..
If you have a job, you don't have time for stuff like Etsy....
Being able to do something creative, that you enjoy, that will bring joy to others, and make tax-free money at is one of the most amazing feelings in the world.

Also another thing I've been saying: Having a job is expensive! Vehicles and Commuting, eating out, tools/supplies, childcare etc. Working from home saves cash.... especially when you find yourself throwing time instead of money at problems to fix them.

I have a second job working at a big box store in my town for extra money while I'm looking for work in my field after relocating. Over the last 2 months the store has hired a ton of people for the 4th quarter. Of the people they hired around 75 % were aged 18-21. Of that group I would say Much more then half quit after their first day. Does this generation prefer to be unemployed rather then do a job that isn't their ideal dream? In parts of the USA people would kill for a 40 hour work week. These people just turned their nose up at it. Does this generation of inexperienced kids have that big of a sense of entitlement ? Isn't that a huge problem?

NEWSFLASH - It's never easy for those just entering the job market. The "original screwed-over generation"? That's rich! Who can honestly make THAT claim? Every generation has been screwed-over for a long time now. I'm sure the picture looked bleak for those entering the job market during The Great Depression era. Many families packed-up and moved west, or east, or wherever they felt they had to. It's never easy but it gets done.

I worked plenty of crappy jobs. I had to, I had to learn a work ethic and only did so by pushing myself through the drudgery every day until I learned to deal with it and take it in stride, and eventually those jobs became tolerable. I had to learn to do the best job and give the best effort I could even though those things seemed pointless and without end. Yeah, I worked, I had jobs while others around me complained they couldn't find any job at all. Mostly they just weren't willing to do some of the things I did because it didn't seem worth the effort, the dirt and filth, nor the wages paid that wouldn't fill all their needs. But pushing myself through the daily drudgery and learning somewhere the ethic to always do "just a little bit more" than what was required I eventually found a decent career by my mid-30's, not that that provided for all my needs either but it was cleaner and seemed to have a future.

Now I am 58 and retired. I'm not sure MY Social Security will be around when I am eligible to draw it as some previous generation of politicians already spent it and now it is just promissory notes and a country that looks like it's headed down the tubes. My retirement pension is less than anyone's minimum wage but by avoiding debt I managed to put a few things together, own a home free and clear, and moved to a place I can afford to live - and I live well on less money than many would feel it is worth working for, not enough for them to live on.

Every downtrodden generation has its billionaires that rose from its ranks, some with little or no financial resources but had an idea and an ambition. It's never easy but it can be done. The defeat is all in one's own mind and tomorrow is another day. You do what you must do today so that you can hope tomorrow will be better. And with the right attitude it usually is. Be glad you have to struggle right now because it makes the coming days better. I have seen people that had success early-on and many times that led them to tougher times later when they couldn'd deal with it as well. Many I've known are no longer with us.

Originally posted by Mijamija
reply to post by xuenchen

 

I grew up military, but ideologically I was a tree hugging hippie. I wanted peace and thought soldiers were these killers with no soul. I could not wait until I turned 18 and got the hell away from the military culture. I was way too intellectual, way too sophisticated, way too liberal for the stifling conservative nature of military life.

I never managed to get away from the military. Right now, I am thankful I never got away fro the military. The military right now is one of the few jobs that still hire In the area where I am from. I am not going to be a cheerleader for the military, because it takes a specific kind of personality to join the military--it is definetly not for everyone, but if a person can psychologically handle it then the military is one of the best jobs out there right now.

Many people join up, do their tour and get the hell out, they take their gi bill and go off to college. Good for them, i say. Many join up, do their time, get out, go back home and realize "home" is no longer home.....then they re-up. Then there are those who join and stay cause they got no where else to go, usually these are the guys and girls who eventually get kicked out.

There is a small percentage that join and stay for ideological reasons, but they are indeed rare. Another subset of this group would be those who join out of family tradition.

I would never encourage anyone to join the military, simply for personal reasons,but if a person does not share my moral scruples, and they are willingly to make the hard decisions military service entails and are psychologically prepared to accept the consequences, then joining the military has so many advantages. There is a high psychological price you pay when you join--and if you chose to stay in and make a career of it, you will need to have faith in something.....purple glitter unicorns, Starbucks coffee, god, Buddha, Allah, Jesus, tacos, lipgloss, fluffy bunnies,you name it....but the one thing you 100% MUST have faith in to be a career soldier is YOURSELF.

You do what you need to do to survive and build a decent life for yourself and your family.

If we keep up at this rate SOLDIER, medic and Walmart Employee will be among the few jobs remaining and there will be no trees left to hug.

But then, we may as well forget about this...

Your post makes me very sad and disappointed...I am not sure why.
A let down. And yet you are a "hero" because there have been heroes in your profession.
If you are a soldier - I give you the benefit of the doubt, call you a hero. I can certainly appreciate your logic and struggle with conscience. You are a credit to the service and I'd NEVER begrudge you whatever benefits, health care or housing I can help pay for even though I cannot afford these myself. Even though I am against the PREMISE of war, think it is wrong in modern times, agree with others that there are BETTER ways to accomplish similar goals....I'm in - let our defense dept take the money - but with serious and lingering reservations. To YOU, a soldier I would give all I can and MORE but the ENTERPRISE of war and the Military Industrial Complex, I do not trust. War has just got to be such big business - Like Ma Bell was, but far worse and much uglier.

Why do I still have nagging doubts that

your first instincts were correct

and we are, in creating soldiers, engaging in something inherently and horribly WRONG on levels we cannot even fully see or comprehend at this time? You knew that. On some level...we all know that.

Childhood is as smart as we get in this life.
The rest of the time we spend adopting and yielding to other peoples vision of the world.
In other words - We get a little stupider as we try to fit in.

My buddy Jon is 21 and works at walmart for $8 an hour part time. After graduating it took him 2 years to find a job. His brother Jake is 18 and just graduated this past spring. He hasn't been able to find a job. Jon supports his brother and his mother that has cancer with no health insurance and can't work. It's the middle of November in Michigan and they have no gas for hot water or heat. They only have electricity no cable or internet. They barely make there rent. Jons mom drives him to work everyday in a piece of **** van with no insurance. They eat potatos and rahmen noodles every day. Jon and Jake both graduated with 3.5 GPA's and are good kids. Neither can go to collage.

My 2 younger cousins and 2 of my uncles had to move in with my grandmother. None of them could find jobs either.

My parents are the only people I know well off. My moms a registerd nurse and my dad works at Ford Mo. Co. If it weren't for them helping me out I would be a lot worse off then I am.

reply to post by Anthropormorphic


Great post anthropomorphic!

I have been on this roll for awhile now. I tell my husband all the time how gen x is like the middle kid in the family, always overlooked, ignored, but we try so hard to do the right thing to get some credit, aknowledgement, and attention.

The boomers are a HUGE demographic, the milinials are a HUGE demographic, gen xers are small population wise. But I like my generation, and I think we are tough enough to handle the economic meltdown. I feel truly bad for the under 30 guys. Many (not all) of the milinials..... were raised by boomers in the Clinton 90's heydays, who spent way too much money on their kids and the kids thought it was normal to grow up in Mac mansions with SUVs in each of the three car garages. Now they are shocked at how things are not the same for them.

What a let down! What a disappointment! They had no clue what being an adult was about. I blame the boomers, they raised a generation of entitled, under educated, materialistic, technology addicted youth that never had to be comepetive because they were raised on the " everyone is a winner" mentality. It is not the milinials fault. Also, before I get slagged by milinials....I know not all under 30 people were raised that way, but it was a significant trend in the 90's.

At least the gen x crowd is used to getting screwed cause we have always gotten screwed....this crisis is no big surprise to the 30-40 crowd. We saw this comming down the pipeline a long time ago, which made us the apathetic slackers that the boomers just loved to hate back in the 90's. Not much has changed since the early 90's for us, we have been here all along, trudging by, doing the dirty work of growing up and trying to find some meaning in a chaotic world.

And before I get crucified by the boomers, I just want to say, I know why the boomers did what they did and I do not hold it against them, I just wish they would admit their mistakes.

I myself am unemployed. Come the 23rd of this month, it will have been one year. I'm 34 and I have a 10 year old son I have to provide for.

When I was 24, I was a web developer and I was making $85k a year. I have 16 years experience in this field. Job offers would come pouring in daily. Never EVER was an offer less than $25/hr to start. Today... well.. no.

Today I have to compete with the flood of kids coming out of college who thought the IT field was the way to go. They saw how much money people were making back in the late 90s and early 2000's and thought "this is where its at". Unfortunately for them, the IT market has been destroyed. And these poor kids are left with mountains of student loan debts and no real light at the end of the tunnel.

Free-Trade killed our country.

I'll give you an example. Back when my son was first born, I was married and working. I got a job offer and it paid $35/hr plus over-time. I was thrilled. I was putting in over 65 hours a week. It was great. I could work my butt off, and be rewarded for it. Then something happened. I don't know exactly what, or how. But the market became flooded with over seas programmers. Basically they were all from India. A project that we would normally bid say, $10k on.. these guys were bidding $1k on. This went on everywhere and pretty soon, IT guys started dropping like flies. Subsequently, every job I have taken since that $35/hr job have paid less and less and less. The last job I lost, I was being paid $16/hr as a programmer. We just can't compete with someone over seas who is willing to work for $20 a day, much less an hour. What corporation in their right mind would pay me $50k a year when they could hire someone on contract over seas, pay them maybe $5k a year, and not have to pay any health insurance, or employee taxes or anything? And so you see the problem.

And I blame it all on "Free Trade". Just look what NAFTA has done to this country. Every single "Free Trade Agreement" we have entered into has done nothing to benefit the PEOPLE of this country. Oh sure.. corporations are making a fast buck off of the cheap labor and goods. But the PEOPLE of America are kicked to the curb. We are left with no jobs, tons of debt and when we are in dire despair, we have those high and mighty souls out there who belittle us by saying things like "go get a job.. its not that hard!". Ok buddy, YOU go try and get a job that pays enough to support your family!!

And now Obama is out there peddling this Asia-Pacific Trade situation. You know what that is going to do? Cost this country more jobs. More people are going to end up out of work, homeless, desperate.

How can I look my son in the eye and tell him America is the land of opportunity when he sees his dad out of work, struggling every single week just to survive? What has this country come to?

Where is the light at the end of the tunnel? I'm sorry but I have no hope. I don't see anything getting any better. I've decided to change careers from IT to Veterinary care. Hopefully I can make it. I PRAY things get better by the time my son is of working age. We are leaving our children and their children nothing. No more "white picket fences". No more baseball and apple pie. Now days it seems like the American dream is "you want fries with that?".