Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Hey kid, get a job

Lot of highly motivated, highly talented kids out there without much to do.  They could cause a great deal of social unrest before this is over.

Bad News: Just Half Of Recent College Grads Are Landing Jobs

Ben Duronio | 4.23.12

According to the Center of Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University just one in two graduates of the class of 2012 are finding jobs.

"Simply put, we're failing kids coming out of college," said [Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University], emphasizing that when it comes to jobs, a college major can make all the difference. "We're going to need a lot better job growth and connections to the labor market, otherwise college debt will grow."
...
About 1.5 million, or 53.6 percent, of bachelor's degree-holders under the age of 25 last year were jobless or underemployed, the highest share in at least 11 years. In 2000, the share was at a low of 41 percent, before the dot-com bust erased job gains for college graduates in the telecommunications and IT fields.

Out of the 1.5 million who languished in the job market, about half were underemployed, an increase from the previous year.  more



Here's The Real Reason Marine Le-Pen Should Scare The Crap Out Of Europe

Joe Weisenthal | 4.23.12

So the big story to come out of the French election yesterday was the strong showing of right-winger Marine Le-Pen, the anti-immigrant Euroskeptic who came in 3rd place.

She won't be in the runoff vote, but because she (theoretically) represents a large bloc of conservative voters, people expect Sarkozy to tack in her direction between now and the runoff on May 6.

But regardless of the way the May 6 election goes, or how Sarkozy panders between now and then, that's not really the big issue.

The big issue is that Marine Le-Pen was wildly popular among youth voters according to pre-election polls. According to one poll in early April, Le-Pen was winning among 18-24 year old voters.

When the future of rich European country like France is so strongly in favor of a Euroskeptic the political establishment around the Eurozone has to be pretty terrified.

Between this news, and the well-known youth unemployment problems in Spain and elsewhere, it's hard not to see how Europe is blowing it for an entire generation. more

4 comments:

  1. See also this new Esquire article:

    http://www.esquire.com/features/young-people-in-the-recession-0412#ixzz1qcJGCtFC

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  2. I agree young people are screwed. But there are plenty over 60 that are screwed as well. We have a lot in common—the screwers. So let's not start a distracting inter-generational war here. We have a social order to change.

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    1. Sorry, I can't let you older Boomers off the hook. I got out of high school in 1971, and the opportunities were already starting to vanish. The gamers among us kept tweaking the rules until we got to where we are now.

      The early Boomers played the game too well, and pulled the ladder up after themselves.

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  3. I agree, the screwers are not the 'boomers', but the predators who stand in control of political power. The statistics in that Esquire article are daunting statements, not of the boomer entitlement class war as much as the impact of predator politics on the financial futures of our youth. Huge student debt, 46% 18-24 year old unemployed, 53% recent college grads un-or-underemployed...this is a recipe for disaster and yet is ignored in the ruling class.

    Their answer (at least local politics, I can't stand national these days)--a new billion dollar Viking stadium here, a new 49ers one there? Financed by Goldman-Sachs schemes? The predators have doubled down while the political enablers and pro sport shiny object fanboys cheer. No movement toward alt energy, no movement toward sanity in political discussions.

    Or is it just so slow that I can't see it. It the MNGOP implosion the tipping point for their craziness and a true sensible business-conservative party will emerge? I can hope, but I'm not hopeful.

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