Young People and the Recession
This article in Slate does a good job addressing some ideas I had wanted to write about, but haven’t really been able to frame properly. Read the whole thing, but here’s the opening:
Apprehension, with an enduring edge to it. That’s the general mood among the twentysomethings I’ve heard from during the last several weeks in response to a question I asked about how the recession is making them feel. The fear isn’t just about the present but about the long-term future. Octopuslike, it has many tentacles. But the most strangling aspect, I think, is the perception of my Gen Y e-mailers that they dutifully set up their lives based on assumptions that suddenly no longer apply. They’re anxious because they can’t tell what the new rules of the game will be—or because they think they can tell, and they don’t like what they see coming at them.
Nothing like a recession to put you in your place. Society is highly stratified, and all the little fractures balloon when times are tough. While there is at least a simplistic examination of class, rarely do you actually get much real discussion of generational issues. Our economy doesn’t integrate young people very at all. It’s a rare 20 something that never did temporary work, worked without health care benefits, worked full time for less then $15,000, or experienced unemployment for a period of at least 6 months. It’s just normal to work a summer job, then work part time while looking a full time job for months and months.
I cataloged my extended family, and almost nobody graduated college then got a real job within a year and never experienced unemployment. 4+ years of underemployed while building up work experience was basically the norm.
Not to bitch too much, I mean in many countries most people don’t have any chances for economic advancement. Which I guess is what I’m worried about for Americans. Young people are expendable in the best of times, these days they might find themselves locked out of even the most basic of employment choices.
If that’s the case then it really changes how people think about themselves and America.
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Tags: Economy, Recession
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