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Econwatch
October 12, 2009 10:34 AM

"The Lost Generation": Bright, Eager and Unwanted

By
David Morgan
Topics
Employment
(CBS/AP)
Climbing the career ladder in today's economy is difficult enough. But young people, from recent college graduates and MBAs to high school dropouts, are finding it harder than ever to even get onto the first rung.

Peter Coy writes in Business Week of "The Lost Generation" — 16- to 24-year-olds for whom unemployment in the U.S. is now more than 18%, up from 13% a year ago. Including fulltime students, less than half of people age 16-24 had jobs in September, the lowest rate since post-WWII.

College graduates and advanced degree holders are suffering as well. Dan Schmitz, 25, a University of Wisconsin graduate with a bachelor's degree in English, told Coy, "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."

According to a Business Week analysis, college graduates aged 22-27 have fared much worse during the downturn than the college-educated ages 28-50, with the gap in employment between those groups almost doubling in the past two years.

Stanford University Robert I. Sutton told Business Week that he's seeing "more anxiety and fear" among his students.

Joblessness among young people poses not only long-term difficulties (extended unemployment at the beginning of a career can jeopardize an applicant's future job prospects and depress lifetime income, studies have found, not to mention being emotionally scarring) but also threatens the viability of businesses, which lose out on the experience and motivation that fresh talent brings to their firms.

And there are long-term health affects to joblessness. Coy notes a study in Japan of workers in their 30s who started out in the midst of Japan's economic miasma of the early 1990s. It found that 6 out of 10 reported cases of depression, stress, and work-related mental disabilities.

And what will this mean for future retirees? With the baby boom generation counting on a young workforce to pay into Social Security and Medicare, a less productive and lower-earning generation of workers could mean less tax revenue.

What to do? Some are calling for government action, from subsidizing education and job training to cutting the minimum wage for younger workers and trainees. "It has to be now," Dartmouth College economist David Blanchflower told Business Week. "It can't be in two years' time."

Read the full Business Week article

  • David Morgan

    David Morgan is a senior editor at CBSNews.com and cbssundaymorning.com.

Add a Comment See all 30 Comments
by CollegeNetworkTravel October 14, 2009 11:00 PM EDT
Stop thinking about Jobs and start thinking about Business! Can't find a Job start your own Business, and create Jobs!
Reply to this comment
by zebra8835 October 13, 2009 12:42 AM EDT
These kids are young and educated enough, when the economy improves they'll be hired. The real lost generation are the forty five to fifty five year old baby boomers who have lost their jobs. Many with only a high school education are nearly unemployable. There are a few jobs available but the majority don't pay a living wage rate. At a time when they need money more than ever to send kids to college and save for retirement, they're out of work, some permanently.
Reply to this comment
by johnpatrick1 October 12, 2009 7:59 PM EDT
I do wish them all well for we also had a miserable time as many Baby Boomers can attest with Recessions in the 70s' the 80s' and the 90s' along with our huge cohort all hitting the market in wave after wave....it was miserable and turned me off to the whole Capitalistic system as one noted that landing a "decent" career/job was one third your inate talent, one third blind dumb luck and one third "who do you know." Talent and education only allows one to stand in the line of "subjective choice of the employer." So many of us did not marry or have children as we saw pretty early what a rotten system it all was and still is. So many talented, eager people and so few decent workplace or jobs except for the "connected."
Reply to this comment
by lovenpeace1 October 12, 2009 6:16 PM EDT
A Divided Empire Ceasing to Exist.
Reply to this comment
by ianlou October 12, 2009 3:45 PM EDT
The scariest part of this is the old adage:

When you got nothing you've got nothing to lose.

You want responsible young adults? We better find something worth while for them to be responsible for. Soon.
Reply to this comment
by cullyourselfout October 12, 2009 3:34 PM EDT
-Stop going to Fraternity style keggers and if you are in a fraternity, remove yourself.

*** Into stereotypes much? They aren't ALL like that, some actually care about academics.

-Stop the drugs

*** A great many of the people unemployed are clean. Many people have even stopped because they know that they may be drug tested to get a job. Besides, drugs are expensive. And check the latest statistics, drug use is at an all time low.

-Stop the video games

*** Right... video games. Because entertainment is ruining the world and the economy isn't in shambles. Bravo.

-Stop the porn

*** I really don't see how this has a single thing to do with this discussion. Since this wasn't a post on morality, it's off topic. If you are implying that this is what people are doing instead of applying for jobs, then you need to re-evaluate your perspective on what runs the economy and why companies don't hire: MONEY. Porn is not on that list.

-Get educated on what's happening politically. Try to getting both perspectives of a political argument, instead of listing to your teacher brain wash you. Latest example that comes to mind: "Mmm.. Mmm.. Mmm., Barack hussein Obama"

*** Education on politics. That is an oxymoron. If any of us knew what was really going on in government, we surely wouldn't be posting on this forum. We'd probably be REALLY trying to change things.

-When someone asks you to do a job, do it, don't argue, and don't think you should own the place after 1 week's employment.

*** Dissent is what makes America what it is. The Civil War, in part, was fought because a group of people had to keep their mouths shut when doing their jobs. That kind of thinking is tyranical. Why should we keep our mouths shut when we are being mistreated? A boss having a bad day does not give them license to mistreat an employee. Likewise, if the employee is insubordinate, fire them and hire someone else. With all the skilled labor on the market, there is always a better deal.
Reply to this comment
by graigo October 12, 2009 3:33 PM EDT
The issue is the Baby Boomer generation--the majority who refuse to retire or are unable to retire because they had a good time over the past 30 years and didn't save a dime for retirement.

The large defense company that my husband worked for employed 4500 people, 75% having 25+ years with the company. Two months ago, they layed-off 10% of the workforce. The key criteria determining who would be let-go wasn't relevance to the company but rather who had the LEAST senority(!). So at the end of the day, the 20 & 30-somethings were sent packing while the high-priced 25+ senority set showed-up for work tomorrow morning along with their 25+ senority superiors who helped determine the criteria for layoffs. Must be nice to be a Baby Boomer. You're not the "Me" generation for nothing.
Reply to this comment
by lovenpeace1 October 12, 2009 3:12 PM EDT
Also, American Corporations laid off Over 40 Professionals to save on High Salaries and Health Care Insurance costs.

What a total waste of Top Talents and Resources.
Reply to this comment
by lovenpeace1 October 12, 2009 3:10 PM EDT
Why are Americans going to any Elementary, Middle, High schools and Colleges and Universities?

Corporate America are easily finding and hiring great professionals at cheap salaries with Outsourcing and Insourcing (H1-B Visa).
Reply to this comment
by lovenpeace1 October 12, 2009 3:03 PM EDT
Why study hard in high school and go to a College and University when Corporate America easily finds and hires great professionals at cheap salaries with Outsourcing and Insourcing (H1-B Visa)?
Reply to this comment
by sjc_1 October 12, 2009 3:14 PM EDT
Silicon Valley California was the last best hope for high tech service jobs. All through the 90s more and more jobs were given to foreign engineers on work visas. Intel and others kept lobbying for even more visas while qualified Americans in San Jose were out looking for work.
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