The world needs at least 600M new jobs in the next decade for young people • Hacker News Board

Re: The world needs at least 600M new jobs in the next decade for young people

#141

Post by vixen99 » Tue, Oct 13, 2015, 7:04 PM UTC

seanp2k2 wrote: post #61

astrodust wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We lived for at least fifty thousand years without any money at all, for around three thousand with some form of money, and the last two hundred years with the idea of hourly wages and bills and rent. It's entirely possible we'll find a better way to do this. Maybe we'll have to "undertake dramatic changes" to avoid an even bigger disaster.

We've developed the technology to support our greed, and now that a small group of people has become infinitely more powerful, they won't be willing to cede control.

Not sure what you mean by greed but I hope it's not the description applied, too often exclusively, to those who want to earn more money or to keep what they have already earned - never to those wanting to take other people's money in taxes or to those wishing to live on the largesse provided by such taxation.

Re: The world needs at least 600M new jobs in the next decade for young people

#142

Post by caskance » Tue, Oct 13, 2015, 7:05 PM UTC

Retra wrote: post #139

caskance wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or you could accept what most people learn in their first month of dating experience - that just because you're not right for each other doesn't mean there's something wrong with either of you.

If "just get over it" were a solution, don't you think it would have worked by now? I don't think being flippant about people's lives is all that productive.

No, of course not. Just as with the dating metaphor, there are a lot of people who will never be mature enough to accept that. But that's something they have to deal with themselves. I'm not their therapist. I can't "be productive" and help them fix their self-esteem issues.

Re: The world needs at least 600M new jobs in the next decade for young people

#143

Post by roymurdock » Tue, Oct 13, 2015, 7:05 PM UTC

icelancer wrote: post #97

downandout wrote: post #82

Most of the comments here focus on how people aren't trying hard enough to get jobs. This article indicates that the jobs don't exist and that the problem is likely to get far worse. You can try as hard as you want to get a job - if no one is hiring, you aren't going to get one. The reality is that as time goes on, the world's needs can and will be met by fewer and fewer people. This should be a good thing, but it wo…

> Most of the comments here focus on how people aren't trying hard enough to get jobs. This article indicates that the jobs don't exist and that the problem is likely to get far worse. The reality is that BOTH are true. There is no law stating that each generation of humans should have it easier and with more resources available to them. My generation is facing this crisis, and the default response is to complain. Wh…

Speaking for myself (as a 22 year-old recent graduate) -

I was brought up to respect my elders and to consider society as a mostly-altruistic, benevolent mass of humanity with a conscience bent more towards justice and meritocracy than corruption and inequality. I believed that the older generation who shape and structure society through government, industry, and academia were doing their absolute best to set future generations up for success; after all, what else could be the ultimate aim and goal of life once you marry and have children of your own?

Now, I'm not so sure this is the case. It seems like there is a lot less to go around, even for the older generation. I used to see teenagers bagging groceries and working menial service jobs. Now all I see are 50-60 year olds, and I wonder "how the hell did these people end up working minimum wage, 11pm shifts at the grocery store at age 58?". I see my landlord barely getting by on social security, rent income, and a sales job, unable to retire at age 65. Ageism is real, with layoffs at major companies (IBM, HP, etc.) affecting older workers disproportionately, many of whom are not yet able to retire and who don't have the time to retrain for a rapidly-changing economy that demands dramatically different skills than it did 20-30 years ago.

So ultimately, I find that many in the older generation are simply trying to make ends meet in an environment of scarcity that is new for the US, with the youth subsequently becoming disillusioned because the system seems to be set up against them.

Of course, as inequality grows, the shrinking proportion of families with money are largely exempt from these worries. But you would think "they" (the nameless, faceless, despised rich) would find it in their interests to give back to society; to give back to a system that had rewarded them with comfort and prosperity. To make sure it didn't rot from the greed, sloth, misplaced violence, weak guidance, and weaker morals that did away with the mighty Roman empire.

It's all a matter of perspective though: at least we're not being conscripted to go fight in Vietnam or WWIII, which is the ultimate manifestation of the old using the young for profit and self-serving agenda pushing.

Re: The world needs at least 600M new jobs in the next decade for young people

#144

Post by csense » Tue, Oct 13, 2015, 7:06 PM UTC

daenz wrote: post #126

icelancer wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most of the comments here focus on how people aren't trying hard enough to get jobs. This article indicates that the jobs don't exist and that the problem is likely to get far worse. The reality is that BOTH are true. There is no law stating that each generation of humans should have it easier and with more resources available to them. My generation is facing this crisis, and the default response is to complain. Wh…

> There is no law stating that each generation of humans should have it easier and with more resources available to them. This is pie-in-the-sky thinking, but maybe there should be a law. Corporations have a legal duty to shareholders to make money. Why shouldn't our government have a legal duty to society to increase our resources and make things easier for each generation?

That kind of attitude invites a government to try communism (the government runs a bunch of businesses) or militarism (turn all the unemployed into soldiers; as for resources, use those soldiers to take them by force from your neighbors).

Re: The world needs at least 600M new jobs in the next decade for young people

#145

Post by cryoshon » Tue, Oct 13, 2015, 7:06 PM UTC

nilkn wrote: post #96

morgante wrote: post #79

> people 15 to 29 years old are at least twice as likely as adults to be unemployed. Today I learned that 28-year-olds aren't adults.

I'm curious if that sentence is itself an explanation for the perception that a 28 year old might not be an adult. In other words, at least in American culture, adulthood is strongly tied with stable employment. If the 15 - 29 age bracket in general does not enjoy stable employment, that could itself be responsible for creating the perception that members of this bracket are not adults.

Adulthood is also tied with marriage, home ownership, car ownership, child-rearing, etc... these things have been pushed back a decade or so as a result of too little money.

By the standards of the 1950s, the 20-somethings of today aren't adults. That has sociological twists to it as well, of course-- but primarily economic. I suspect that people aren't actively avoiding having a house, car, wedding, or children, so much as adjusting their wants to be more in line with what is realistic-- choosing one or half of one of the above listed items.

Re: The world needs at least 600M new jobs in the next decade for young people

#146

Post by Kalium » Tue, Oct 13, 2015, 7:06 PM UTC

tracker1 wrote: post #86

Kalium wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Job seekers are much better served spending an hour sending 10 focused applications than spending that same hour to send 100 sanitized applications. This is the theory, yes. In practice, that 10x level of effort is not matched by a 10x increase in the number of interested responses or a 10x increase in response rate. Diminishing returns sets in quickly. You wind up with more interested responses by shutgunning your…

That's part of the problem... you need a good resume to start with... many don't even take the time to work on that.

When I said "good resume", I did not mean "An aesthetically pleasing resume" or anything of that sort. I mean "A history containing the traits the would-be employer seeks".

Re: The world needs at least 600M new jobs in the next decade for young people

#147

Post by FrankenPC » Tue, Oct 13, 2015, 7:06 PM UTC

nostromo wrote: post #23

maresca wrote: post #3

Student loan debt surpassed credit card and auto loan debt in the US last year. Many college grads graduate with large sums of debt and can't find relevant jobs. Since student loan debt isn't forgivable, it'll be interesting to see the effect of this over the next decade. I have a hunch that the next big market crash will be caused by student loan debt.

I agree that student loan debt seems like an asset bubble -- in that the price of an education greatly exceeds the valuation justified by the fundamentals. But I can't think of a way that the bubble could actually pop. Or what it would look like if it did. Unlike housing, you can't walk away from your education; student loans are designed to prevent debtors from ever escaping their obligations. They're also guarantee…

>They're also guaranteed by the federal government, which has seemingly infinite resources.

IMO That resource is GDP. If American's can't find meaningful work that has financial value not just domestically, but internationally, we'll see how much of that resource is left after a few decades. Or more accurately, we'll see a VERY tiny percentage of Americans with vast wealth and the majority struggling for subsistence because the government has essentially been deactivated due to lack of funds.

Re: The world needs at least 600M new jobs in the next decade for young people

#148

Post by Kalium » Tue, Oct 13, 2015, 7:07 PM UTC

6stringmerc wrote: post #113

Kalium wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Job seekers are much better served spending an hour sending 10 focused applications than spending that same hour to send 100 sanitized applications. This is the theory, yes. In practice, that 10x level of effort is not matched by a 10x increase in the number of interested responses or a 10x increase in response rate. Diminishing returns sets in quickly. You wind up with more interested responses by shutgunning your…

While I know the strategy was high-risk, I made a very aggressive Cover Letter touting my capabilities and frustration with not geting interviews, and eventually that landed in the hands of the boss that hired me for my first professional job out of college and start in my field of business communications.

Once in a while, someone wins a lot of money on a Powerball lottery. Yet few rational people tout that as a good way to achieve a goal.

Re: The world needs at least 600M new jobs in the next decade for young people

#149

Post by happyscrappy » Tue, Oct 13, 2015, 7:07 PM UTC

daenz wrote: post #126

icelancer wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most of the comments here focus on how people aren't trying hard enough to get jobs. This article indicates that the jobs don't exist and that the problem is likely to get far worse. The reality is that BOTH are true. There is no law stating that each generation of humans should have it easier and with more resources available to them. My generation is facing this crisis, and the default response is to complain. Wh…

> There is no law stating that each generation of humans should have it easier and with more resources available to them. This is pie-in-the-sky thinking, but maybe there should be a law. Corporations have a legal duty to shareholders to make money. Why shouldn't our government have a legal duty to society to increase our resources and make things easier for each generation?

> each generation of humans should have it easier and with more resources available to them.

That is clearly the trend, ups and downs aside. The current generation appears to feel they have it harder than the last few generations. Not even close.

Re: The world needs at least 600M new jobs in the next decade for young people

#150

Post by jcranmer » Tue, Oct 13, 2015, 7:07 PM UTC

daenz wrote: post #126

icelancer wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most of the comments here focus on how people aren't trying hard enough to get jobs. This article indicates that the jobs don't exist and that the problem is likely to get far worse. The reality is that BOTH are true. There is no law stating that each generation of humans should have it easier and with more resources available to them. My generation is facing this crisis, and the default response is to complain. Wh…

> There is no law stating that each generation of humans should have it easier and with more resources available to them. This is pie-in-the-sky thinking, but maybe there should be a law. Corporations have a legal duty to shareholders to make money. Why shouldn't our government have a legal duty to society to increase our resources and make things easier for each generation?

To play devil's advocate here:

Why should governments be beholden to the smaller half of its population (at least in most developed countries), if it comes at the expense of the larger half (and the one that is actually most involved in government)?