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Europe's Record Youth Unemployment

theatlantic.com

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Re: Europe's Record Youth Unemployment

#31

Post by nhebb »

jcrites wrote: post #29
mullingitover wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who'd like to drive down the value of my labor down to poverty levels, this is a fantastic idea.

This isn't a particularly constructive comment, especially the sarcasm. I can see that you've been on HN for a while, but in the future it would be great if you could consider stating your concerns directly. (Unless you're just trying to make a joke, in which case it doesn't make complete sense to me. We're talking about positions that require college education.) Or do you genuinely believe that allowing a greater le…

On one hand you're trying to invoke the emotional imagery of a wave of immigrants coming through Ellis Island, but with the stipulation that they are college educated. Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses - as long as they have a STEM degree. You've managed to come across as both populist and elitist in the same argument, so sarcastic replies aren't completely unexpected.

Re: Europe's Record Youth Unemployment

#32

Post by kposehn »

Youths with nothing to lose are how bloody revolutions start, rarely turning out well for any involved.

I find one thing about the unemployment rate in Europe truly scary:

There are a /lot/ of youths there with nothing to lose.

Re: Europe's Record Youth Unemployment

#33

Post by kposehn »

kposehn wrote: post #32

Youths with nothing to lose are how bloody revolutions start, rarely turning out well for any involved. I find one thing about the unemployment rate in Europe truly scary: There are a /lot/ of youths there with nothing to lose.

And another thing: austerity is all that stands between Europe and total collapse. They can't keep writing checks they cannot cash.

Re: Europe's Record Youth Unemployment

#34

Post by sidcool »

News of this kind makes me confused, scared and angry. Confused because of questions like 'Is Government directly responsible for jobs?', 'What is the skill set of the youth?' etc. Scared because the youth have families to feed, they have ambitions and this leads to a rise in suicides among the youth. Angry because the government, due to their poor economic choices, have ruined the dreams of the youth. The government is responsible for providing opportunities and freedom, if not employment. But they fail, for various reasons, including corruption, dirty politics, poor economic choices etc.

Re: Europe's Record Youth Unemployment

#35

Post by flexie »

jcrites wrote: post #17
hkmurakami wrote: post #14

This is scary, yes. But there's more to any unemployment story than just the stats. What are the prospects of an unemployed young person getting a job at any point in the future, even when the economy recovers? Is there a strong bias towards new grads, that would lead to a "lost generation" that permanently suffers in the job market? How does society look on the unemployed? Do they look at them with sympathy or scorn…

How are they making a living and otherwise providing for themselves? (Serious question.) Is homelessness also skyrocketing, or do the unemployed receive benefits of some kind?

It's different from country to country, but in general lot's of them live with their parents and most of them receive some welfare.

In Southern Europe it's not unnormal to live with your parents way into your twenties or even early thirties. And it's not considered embarrassing either. In the cafés of Barcelona, Rome, Athens, you will meet the well dressed 31 year old guy with a smart phone in his pocket a laptop on his knees and a girlfriend by his side. He drives a nice little car, goes on vacations once or twice a year, has a master in something soft, which he got for free, and he is covered by free health care. He lives with his parents or - if he is lucky - in one of their spare apartments (lots of Southern European families have more than one home). He may have a low paid job or he may be unemployed living with a bit of government welfare and occational help from daddy.

Re: Europe's Record Youth Unemployment

#36

Post by sopooneo »

kposehn wrote: post #33
kposehn wrote: post #32

Youths with nothing to lose are how bloody revolutions start, rarely turning out well for any involved. I find one thing about the unemployment rate in Europe truly scary: There are a /lot/ of youths there with nothing to lose.

And another thing: austerity is all that stands between Europe and total collapse. They can't keep writing checks they cannot cash.

Do you mean that you believe austerity will help avoid collapse, or that austerity will bring it on? I think you mean the former. I'm too ignorant on the issue to have an opinion myself.

Re: Europe's Record Youth Unemployment

#37

Post by [deleted] »

jcrites wrote: post #19

It would be great if the US government provided an expedited Visa program for college-educated foreign nationals who have received a job offer from a company in the US. There is H1B, but that applies to specialty occupations. (I'm not an immigration expert - perhaps this already exists and I don't know about it?) How many people from those countries immigrate to the US or wish to? If they're willing to work, and a co…

[deleted]

Re: Europe's Record Youth Unemployment

#38

Post by flexie »

sebkomianos wrote: post #26

Another quite scary graph: http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/im... I hope it's getting clear to everyone that this is not a "union" anymore..

And then this is not a union either: http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/labor/state-unemployment... The difference between unemployment in North Dakota and Puerto Rico is 4 fold, not that different from Austria vs. Greece.

Also, the figures for Greece are the February figures. The largest industry in Greece, tourism, takes off right about now, and last year on the beach in Greece there were plenty of young Greeks working the beaches, bars and hotels. But of course, many of these jobs are unofficial so they may continue to count as unemployed.

Re: Europe's Record Youth Unemployment

#39

Post by javs42 »

sopooneo wrote: post #36
kposehn wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And another thing: austerity is all that stands between Europe and total collapse. They can't keep writing checks they cannot cash.

Do you mean that you believe austerity will help avoid collapse, or that austerity will bring it on ? I think you mean the former. I'm too ignorant on the issue to have an opinion myself.

Unfortunately there is still debate about the benefit/drawbacks of austerity, but if Europe is any indication, it is just degrading the whole situation. What's keeping Europe away from the edge or from a turn to prosperity is the hard-nosed devotion to austerity.

Re: Europe's Record Youth Unemployment

#40

Post by javs42 »

hkmurakami wrote: post #14

This is scary, yes. But there's more to any unemployment story than just the stats. What are the prospects of an unemployed young person getting a job at any point in the future, even when the economy recovers? Is there a strong bias towards new grads, that would lead to a "lost generation" that permanently suffers in the job market? How does society look on the unemployed? Do they look at them with sympathy or scorn…

Increasingly, I'm scared this is the prospect faced by youth in the US. There is no doubt the US is in a relatively sounder position than Europe, but the past few years of recent grads not being able to find work has left a bleak prospect in our minds about future work even when the economy recovers.
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