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

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

#201

Post by fecak »

NotAPerson wrote: post #77
fecak wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Recruiter and resume-writer-on-the-side here, and it's become so easy to apply for jobs that most people put zero effort into anything but pressing send and shotgunning a resume to hundreds of companies. If there was even a small cost (time or money) to applying, you can be sure that resumes and cover letters would be much more common and of higher quality. I'm not suggesting that we charge applicants, but years ago…

> Job seekers are much better served spending an hour sending 10 focused applications than spending that same hour to send 100 sanitized applications. Let's assume that you have a 1 in 20 chance on the focused applications, and a 1 in 200 chance on the sanitized ones. Then the odds that you are offered at least one job, is 40.13% for the focused ones, and 39.42% for the sanitized ones. I'm not sure the emotional inve…

I appreciate the odds, but I'd hope the numbers would be better for both (we're talking chances of interview here). I usually expect candidates who are applying to jobs they are mostly or entirely qualified for will get response rates well above that (perhaps 40%), but that's only based on anecdotal evidence from my industry experience over the past ~20 years.

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

#202

Post by acveilleux »

jcranmer wrote: post #150
daenz wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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)?

That holds until the cross-over point where the unemployed half is larger than the employed one.

Note that most unemployment statistics define unemployment as a subset of the whole population that both has no job and is not actively seeking one. That last criteria is rarely as objective as the first one.

In Greece, unemployment is currently 25% or so. 48.6% for 18-25.

There were 3,644,000 employed individuals as of july 2015. For a total population close to 10.8m. Employed people are far from the "largest half."

For the US, from the same source (all number Sep 2015), the numbers are:

Unemployment: 5.1% (Youth: 11%) 148,800,000 employed individuals out of 319m population... So 160+m people are not seeking work either because they're kids, retired, unable to work, inmates or have given up.

Source: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/greece/unemployment-rate

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

#203

Post by panglott »

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…

"Nearly eighty years ago, John Maynard Keynes did the math on economic growth and concluded that within a few generations—by the time his peers' great-grandchildren came of age in, say, the 2000's—the persistent economic problem of too-scarce resources and too-few goods would no longer bedevil a substantial portion of humanity. He was right—even in the midst of our current hard times, he is right." (2009) http://www.bradford-delong.com/2009/01/we-are-live-at-the-we...

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

#204

Post by jcranmer »

astrodust wrote: post #49
thieving_magpie wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's so easy! Why has no one thought of this? All we need to do is convince every government in the world to undertake dramatic changes to their economic and labor structure.

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.

Wages, bills, rent, and taxation easily date back to classical times, and predate coinage (coinage being introduced in large part to make collecting taxes easier). Indeed, I believe the earliest writing that we've deciphered is an accounting bill or receipt.

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

#205

Post by rsync »

maxerickson wrote: post #178
roymurdock wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

In some hand wavy statistical sense, those old people you see bagging groceries probably would have been dead 50 years ago. If that is true (I don't know if it is, I'm speculating), they aren't evidence of scarcity. It's hard to measure quality of life, but if you look at things like housing, people in the US have more households now, with the average dwelling having increased in size (I'm sure McMansions pull up the…

"In some hand wavy statistical sense, those old people you see bagging groceries probably would have been dead 50 years ago."

No, some proportion of them would have been dead between 0 and 3 years old (which is what brings down the life expectancy numbers dramatically) but 100 years ago those 50 year olds would still be living to 60, just like they do now.

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

#207

Post by xrange »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #134
ap22213 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Back around 2000, when I saw education costs rising (and was a big believer in market forces), I figured more educators would enter the market, and things would stabilize. It's been 15 years, and I haven't seen any new colleges or universities formed. What happened?

Udemy etc and the tutorial market are booming. Universities in countries with inflated fees and tuition loans are about to fall off a cliff. I'll be surprised if they're still around a generation from now. The Ivy League will survive because of social and political momentum. But colleges outside the prestige circuit are going to have real problems getting students for high-cost low-return education.

>The Ivy League will survive because of social and political momentum.

...and their endowments in $10-40 billion range:

http://www.ibtimes.com/ivy-league-endowments-2015-princeton-...

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

#208

Post by nathan_f77 »

positr0n wrote: post #50
sosuke wrote: post #13

What qualifies as an adult anymore? people 15 to 29 years old are at least twice as likely as adults to be unemployed 30 is adulthood in their interpretation of the data.

I have two kids and own a house but I guess I'm still 5 years away from being an adult! Unless maybe their definition of adult is 18+ and that sentence means "the 15-29 age bracket is twice as likely as 18+ to be unemployed"

Haha, I was just thinking that if I'm only 4 years away from being an adult, then that feels about right. I don't feel like an adult at all, but maybe when I'm in my 30s.

Wow, I can't imagine having 2 kids or a house.

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

#209

Post by cryoshon »

linkregister wrote: post #163
Azew wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> in the US, getting a job as a barista or fast food is possible, but a horrendous waste of a college education. Maybe. Not all college educations are created equal. Got a major in philosophy? You're not useful to the economy, there are no jobs and no one is wasting your education. Of course the example here is facetious, the point is this: If you have a college education/degree in something that is not marketable to…

I would posit that many businesses don't know the great value of a graduate with a good philosophy education. Critical thinking, clear writing, and persuasively advocating a position are all essential to business management.

I agree entirely. I majored in philosophy, as well as biology. I currently work in biotech.

The more useful of the two majors, even taking my career into account? Philosophy. Understanding the principles which govern the properties and flow of ideas/arguments/concepts is far more important than the particulars, which can be memorized and understood as needed.

The cliche is that philosophy teaches you how to think, and it's true. Of course, philosophy isn't the only way to learn how to think, but it's a good primer.

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

#210

Post by lumberjack »

dba7dba wrote: post #78

We should be honest and talk about just not creating more jobs BUT having LESS babies.

Why do you think that developed countries have below replacement birth rates? Many people cannot afford to raise families anymore. By afford I mean, afford to raise them to an adequate first world standard. So that's already happening.
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