From CBC: Generation Jobless
And to make things worse, 60%
graduate with an average debt of $27,000. Mired in debt, and working in
dead end jobs, their launch into adulthood is being curtailed. Some call
them “the lost generation”. But, it’s not only young people who may be
lost. If the next generation fails to gain a toehold into the economy,
who’ll buy boomer’s houses? Who’ll pay for social programs? Youth
unemployment and underemployment is a ticking time bomb with serious
consequences for everyone.
Generation Jobless delves into why so many young Canadians are
overeducated and underemployed. The reality is that today’s
twenty-something’s are entering an economy in the throes of a seismic
shift where globalization and technology are transforming the workplace.
Automation is replacing tens of thousands of jobs at a time. Companies
fixated on the bottom line are outsourcing jobs and wherever possible getting
computers to do the work. Employers are placing a higher premium on
experienced workers, unwilling to invest in training new entrants to the
workforce. So, young people are caught in a catch 22. How do you get
experience if no one will hire you without it? Many are working for free as
unpaid interns, just to try and get their foot in the door. And, for the
first time in history youth are facing another unique challenge –
competition with their parents’ generation for the small pool of jobs that do
exist. Boomers who are delaying retirement.
I couldn’t agree more with this article as I myself belong
to “generation jobless” and so does everyone in my social circle. Most of my
friends have student loans north of $30,000, low paying entrée jobs, and many keep bouncing between random apartments and parents' basements.
That’s what degrees in accounting, behavioral therapy, and economics got us. Ironically, those of my friends who did not go to university were the only ones who are making six digits incomes and have zero debt.
That’s what degrees in accounting, behavioral therapy, and economics got us. Ironically, those of my friends who did not go to university were the only ones who are making six digits incomes and have zero debt.
I would add one more point to this article. Most of the job
prospects for the younger generation lay outside big cities. For the past several
decades we had a massive influx of people from rural areas to urban megacities,
which left many unoccupied positions in the country side. A teachers college grad I know just got a job
offer in a small town in the northern BC, which he politely refused as he is
keen on city living. Another friend got offered an accounting position in
Northern Ontario, but Timmins was too far from Toronto’s entertainment district.
My point is that our young generation is so accustomed to
city living that most of us would never even consider moving to the country
side for a job opening. Look - most of us
want to sit in a Starbucks drinking blond roast, wear trendy clothes and
browse BuzzFeed on an iPad. Most of us don’t want to get out of our comfort
zone... which is the city.
So basically this leaves us with a generation of
overeducated, underemployed, indebted spoiled brats who do not want to move for
a job offer. Question is, if generation jobless can either move out of the city
to get a job, or stay underemployed for years in the city, who on earth is
going to buy all those condos in downtown Toronto?