09/28/09 Baltimore, Maryland “The real danger — economically, socially or politically speaking — in the 1930s was loads of young men without jobs.”
It’s probably a literary no-no to quote yourself. But we begin today with words we wrote last November not because we admire our own work, but we because we meant it then… and it’s becoming a reality today.
No matter which way you measure it, unemployment among Americans aged 16-24 is now at a post-World War II high. As typical in these kinds of stats, we’re seeing numbers all over the place… the NY Post reported yesterday that the rate has “exploded” to 52%, while the government’s latest tally (set to be revised this week) has it closer to 25%. Neither stat includes students not looking for work.
Both ends of this spectrum still mark the highest youth unemployment rate since at least 1948, when the government started keeping track. That’s especially interesting given the “official” unemployment rate for the total population — a 26-year high of 9.7%.
This has the Obama administration worried enough to shell out $1.2 billion — an earmark in the stimulus bill which has (if anything) only kept the situation from getting REALLY ridiculous. In the meantime, the masses of disgruntled youth swell by the day. How dangerous is that in modern times? Ask Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Why do our youth have it so tough? For starters, competition for jobs is at a record high. Here’s a worthy alternative way to examine our jobs crisis:
There are 14.5 million officially unemployed people in the United States and 2.5 million job openings. In other words, for every six people looking for work, there is one job to fill — not counting those already employed who are looking for a new gig. And we hasten to add, these are Labor Department numbers… if the reality were twice as bad, it’d be no surprise.
So pity the youth. That English Lit degree might be useful one day, but not up against five other resumes with real work experience. Summer internships are over, and all that’s left are a few hourly, low-wage gigs. According to Northwestern University, half of college grads under 25 that do hold jobs are working in a position that doesn’t require a degree — also the highest portion on record.
Our biggest fear is that these jobless youths lose all hope and make the ultimate mistake — law school.
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or become economists.
So pity the youth. That English Lit degree might be useful one day, but not up against five other resumes with real work experience. Summer internships are over, and all that’s left are a few hourly, low-wage gigs. According to Northwestern University, half of college grads under 25 that do hold jobs are working in a position that doesn’t require a degree — also the highest portion on record.
Our biggest fear is that these jobless youths lose all hope and make the ultimate mistake — law school.
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LOL.
I feel sorta’ bad for all the business and Human Sciences/Humanities school majors that I saw pile into orientation at the school I attend in Houston.
As for the law school types, well, my digging finds that the USA produces TEN (10) lawyers per engineer that graduates from a university.
I guess being one of the sheeple doesn’t really cut it.
I’d be interested to see these data broken down by race/ethnicity, education level, and region. Are English-Lit majors really overrepresented among the unemployed, or is it mostly those with just a high school diploma or less? It’s hard to infer what social and political “dangers” this trend portends without knowing how it is distributed demographically.
The past year the downturn also hit China pretty bad. Millions also out of work, many of the younger generation.
So what did these youngsters do?
They entered schools to study physics, astronomy, biotech, advanced engineering, aerospace, nano technologies, green sciences. By the millions. Colleges and universities are opening up like McDonalds in China, fully funded.
Did anybody go to study finance? Of course. They need a few guys to handle the new global reserve currency you know.
Does that sound like a country who has lost direction?
“They entered schools to study physics, astronomy, biotech, advanced engineering, aerospace, nano technologies, green sciences. By the millions. Colleges and universities are opening up like McDonalds in China, fully funded.”
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Big deal. What do they get when they matriculate? A McPloma?
We are doomed because (1) jobs left and are not coming back and (2) no one can afford to pay for college. And even if you borrow money to get a degree, what can you study that isn’t being outsourced? There may be job openings in health care but at the same time they’re shipping X-rays to foreign doctors for analysis. How crazy is that?
As long as politicians are paid by big business, they will do what’s best for their corporate masters and to hell with the rest of us.
Even “getting into college” is going to be problematic….so many states are broke; so many colleges lost their A#$% in the subprime market fiasco…so there is INTENSE competition for SPACE in almost all colleges across the country…and forcing those with the means ($$$$$$) to apply at private schools….so much for progress!!
JMR bayou bobby:
No, they get master and doctorate degrees. Then they work for government technology initiatives, or join research institutions which they are building by the hundreds, including big American names like IBM.
Then they start to build the next generation Internet, consumer and industrial electronics, and might just land a guy on the moon for glory sake.
See, China does not have much of a debt or money problem. And once they make their Yuan internationally convertible, which will become a component of the new global currency, then the tide of foreign money wealth pouring into China will make today’s troubles so hush hush.
And finally, these guys will come and wipe your career out. Just in case you still think ‘big deal’.
The greatest danger is WAR–look at the high number of unemployed youth right before both World Wars – fodder for leaders like Hitler, Ahmadinejad, and the easy solution – enlist them in the army, send them off to fight a war that should never be fought
Yeah, it looks like a major in Tatoo Design will get you farther than a degree in Electrical Engineering these days. How about a Masters Degree in ball cap wearing, the bill has to be kinda, but not exactly backwards and pants low to show the bu** crack or boxers. We need some metallurgists, inventors and machinists.