New Report Shows Recession Taking Major Toll on Young
Reuters is reporting that the economic recession (soon to be a depression, in my opinion) have taken its toll on young Americans in particular. Since the recession began in late 2007, young people, particularly black and low-income young people, have found it increasingly difficult to find a job according to a new report published by Reuters.
Reuters stated, “Overall, 26 percent of American teenagers aged 16 to 19 had jobs in late 2009, said the report, which was based on U.S. Census Bureau data. That figure is a record low since statistics began to be kept in 1948, the researchers said.”
It’s no secret young people are having a hard time finding jobs in this economy. Just think why I started this blog in the first place. You have a plethora of recent college graduates that have great degrees that are doing nothing with themselves post-college. No jobs, no cars, no moving out of mom and dad’s house. Instead, they wallow with no work at all, temporary work, part-time work, or low-level service jobs (i.e. retail). Being that a good deal of college graduates or recently laid off skilled works now apply for temporary jobs, part-time work, or retail jobs, imagine how this effects those without a work history, hard skills, or a degree. What does the high school grad or G.E.D. grad do when jobs they once sought are being filled by those with higher credentials?
Thoughts?
Welcome to the New World
It’s no secret that the job market is terrible. Except for the lucky few that are rather unaffected by this economic mess and are able to land decent, normal jobs due to shear luck or otherwise, most either cannot find a job or find a job that in a normal economy, would not even be on their radar screen. You have people that are skilled with a 15-year career being forced to a job as a dental receptionist because there are no other jobs for them. And then you have the eager, bright-eyed recent graduate that quickly discovers their hopes and dreams are nothing but just that – hopes and dreams. Their eagerness to join the workforce and build a career quickly diminishes as they put special sauce on yet another Big Mac working next to a pimply 15 year-old talking about Pokémon, Adam Lambert, or whatever the kids talk about these days.
Many recent college graduates are forced to work retail after spending $150,000 on their exclusive private education and pontificating on the effects of higher concentrations of blue-green algae on the lifespan of krill. Or after learning 1970s marketing skills no longer applicable to our digital age robust with social media and the Internet. Suits or business casual attire are replaced with name tags, helping uneducated low-lives and those off of their prescription meds navigate isles of Made in China crap that the person probably doesn’t even need. $40,000 a year salaries and a studio apartment have now become $400 a week and Mom & Dad’s basement. Retail companies want a neat, polished, educated, dedicated, enthusiastic, hard-working person willing to put up with retail hours and undue amounts of stress caused by maniac customers and uneducated Stalinist managers all while making $9.50 an hour. But hey, they get a 20% discount on stuff they can’t afford anyways. And what’s job security? You can lose your job in a whim when some whack-job complains you gave them “the evil eye” when helping them or that you were curt with them when they asked a question. Never mind that the sales associate might be losing their mother to cancer or their wife/girlfriend is breaking up with them and their at the end of their arduous 8-hour workday after being asked hundreds of questions in an environment filled with screaming babies and husband-wife arguments over which trash basket would look better in their bathroom. But wait, that stuff is supposed to be left at the door – forget that the sales associate is human, perhaps more human than the animals that shop the store and leave dirty diapers on shelves or throw-up on merchandise from drinking too much.
The economy is in a sad state and I feel bad for the recent grads whose cheery-eyed optimism is diminished after 6 months of job searching and no responses. I was one of them.
Good luck?
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!
Another year closer to…
wealth?
buying a house?
moving out of mom and dad’s?
moving up the company ladder?
building a career?
being laid off?
searching for a job?
death?
Hope you get whatever you want from the above list in 2010!
Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays!
I know I haven’t been updating that frequently the past couple of months but between working a crazy schedule and life, it’s hard to find time to update as frequently as I would like. The last thing I want to do when coming home from a hard day’s work is do more work! I promise to start updating more from now on — in fact, I’ll make it a New Year’s resolution.
But I would like to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a very happy and healthy holiday season!
Was Santa good to you this year?
How Much Are You Missing?
Are you busy and in such a rush that you are missing the true beauty in life? Well, on a cold January morning in a Washington, D.C. train station, a man with a violin played six Bach pieces for 45 minutes as 2,000 commuters went through the station. Amongst the Bach pieces was one of the most intricate songs ever created and all of the pieces were played on a one of a kind violin valued at $3.5 million dollars. It’s probably also important that the music was played by the person that is generally considered the best violinist in the world – Joshua Bell. He played to a sold out crowd two nights prior with ticket prices averaging $100 a piece.
So how did this experiment turn out? It turns out only 6 people stopped and listened for a few minutes. 20 people gave money but hurried along. All in all, $32 was collected and at the end of the set, no one cared and no one applauded.
This was a very interesting social experiment by the Washington Post. Think about it. If you can’t stop and listen to some of the finest works ever created played by the finest violinist on a rare and extremely valuable violin, what else are you missing in life?
You can watch the event here.
