How Are the Kids? Unemployed, Underwater, and Sinking

Some of these unemployed liberal arts majors can be really frustrating to me. A few months back, I was talking to an old roommate of mine, who graduated 1.5 years ago with a BA in PHL and a foreign language (3.9 GPA), who has not had any luck finding a job.<p>So now he basically sits around surfing the internet all day and looking at foreign films.<p>3 months ago, I told him I would help him by getting him the right materials he would need so that he could pick up some design skills, since he seemed really interested in graphic design. Initially, he seemed interested, but then he refused because he didn't like the idea of using pirated materials such as a copy of Photoshop or Lynda tutorials. At the same time though, he refused to pay for anything that would actually teach him what he needed to know.<p>I just don't understand how someone can drift sideways like that for so long. The guy is not picking up any new skills or making any real progression in his life. The other day he complained because he thinks all the clerical jobs he is applying for are automatically going to women. It's like he makes up excuses to cover up for his own laziness.

"In order to combat such structural problems, the need for investment in <i>education</i> and jobs is clear."<p>Um, didn't they say just before this that 50% of Bachelor's graduates cannot find jobs requiring that degree? So how is funding even more Bachelor's degrees going to help in the current environment?

I should be careful when I say this (but I'm not so take it with a grain of salt and don't be offended.) The crash in the housing market is definitely a good thing for young people. Here in Australia the prices of houses are getting so expensive I don't think I'll ever buy one at this price, ever; It'd just mean mortgaging myself to the hilt just to make some baby boomer rich enough to retire comfortably. A housing market with house prices kept high artificially is called robbing the next generation.

Definitely correct that the great-recession is structural unemployment - not just lack of demand.<p>The industrial revolution spawned public schools for giving all of society the ability to take part - now we need another similar revolution.<p>However, whereas before it was the capitalist class doing this to get more workers for their factories, it's now those very people trying to restrict education into the same old mold.<p>We need a model that suits the emerging model: global, info rich, distributed, open-source, democratized, etc.<p>This means we need: basic programming (using FOSS) for everyone, teach stats before, teach FabLab tech, teach media literacy and research at a young age, show them the vast amount of resources at their disposal.<p>Our kids really will be our future...

The authors are so brainwashed by the system, they don't even know that the policies they advocate for are the ones bringing the economy down. They recommend more government investment in education, and a massive push for government funded "Green Jobs". This seems ludicrous as government jobs tend not to go to young people.<p>How about using scaling government back a bit to encourage a better business climate? Look at the policy differences between Texas and California. It's no surprise where the jobs migrate to.<p>Government needs to step back temporarily and let business flourish. A lower corporate income tax and tax breaks for early stage startup investments seem like it would go way farther than a huge push to add more government employees.

"Even with good credentials, it is difficult for young people to find work and keep themselves afloat."<p>I would like to see this statement better qualified. Of the dozens of people I've worked with over the years, I can think of exactly three who had good credentials out of college. Of those three, I know for a fact that at least one had good credentials going in.<p>Conversely, some industries are still healthy and hiring. But it seems that training and qualification often lag demand. I remember trying to peddle my (albeit infant) UNIX skills in 1993 (also an economic recession). It took me a while to get myself into the a geographic location with sufficient demand for my skills. After which, I had zero trouble paying the monthly on my loans. Fast forward to 2003, and the systems administrations market is glutted with a bunch of fresh, young faces who've installed Ubuntu a few times and are willing to work 80+ hours a week for 30K a year. That was my clue that it was time to move on. One of them, anyway.<p>Kinda comes across as "F--- you, Jack, I got mine," I guess. But I don't like this sort of doom and gloom pity party.

Student loans are not able to be discharged in bankruptcy, is that right? Assuming so, what will be the likely result if the current situation keeps up for say 5 years - no job means no payments on the student loans, and at even a low rate of interest, not making payments on the loan for 5 years will greatly increase the amount due.<p>Some amount of defaults/resetting will be likely - the question is, who will take the haircut when the loans are not repaid?

Author's problem description: Students went too far into debt getting an education that didn't lead to jobs<p>Author's solution: Invest more in the same education system

Problem: No one is hiring people with degrees Proposed Solution: Spend more money on education so that more people have degrees.<p>How does this make any sense? Shifting supply to the right will only reduce the equilibrium wage.

Is it really that astonishing, given that kids are all but pushed through 'til they get "their" BA? Degrees are used as a quick proxy for minimum competency, right? Well, if our highschools act as little more than babysitting systems that push kids through no matter what (qualification to say this: I date a public highschool teacher in Maryland, which is supposedly the best public school system in the country. Consequently, I see it first-hand.), HS diplomas will be rendered irrelevant.<p>This, in turn, means that college degrees become the base level qualification required for a showing of minimum competency. Compare the ability of a recent college graduate to secure employment with that of a high school graduate in the 1970s, and I'd bet they're not far off...

in our increasingly technological society, jobs require better logic skills, that's a big change for humanity, social skills used to matter more.

And who says there actually is genuine need for such masses of employees? Many say that there ought to be, or that they wish there were, but that isn't the same.

Not to boast, but merely to inform.<p>Technical degrees (like engineering) don't have problems like this. I'm a Junior with ample internship offers for next summer, and my friends who are seniors all have job offers coming in. Last I checked our school was ranked in the 80s nationally, so it's not like we are MIT or Stanford.

If you aren't, (or worse, can't even imagine), doing something without being paid, people won't want to pay you to do it unless it's a real shitty job. People call this "passion"; I call it being what you say you are. Otherwise, you're just phoning it in.