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The Youth Unemployment Bomb

businessweek.com

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Re: The Youth Unemployment Bomb

#91

Post by gaius »

swernli wrote: post #69
pzxc wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never understood how being "overqualified" is a problem. No one says you have to list your degree or make mention of it. Just pretend you don't have one? What am I missing here? Are people too egotistical to accept a job at McDonald's when they have a degree? It has always been my opinion that any job is better than no job. If you need money, take what work you can. There's nothing that says you can't keep looki…

That's exactly the problem. From what I've seen, the reason people don't want to hire overqualified applicants is because they know those people would be doing exactly what you are advising: coasting in the job for 3 months while waiting for something better to come along. There's nothing wrong with that from the point of view of the person, but what about the company? They spend time and money training someone, only…

Same reasons many people don't like to hire contractors as permies.

Re: The Youth Unemployment Bomb

#92

Post by yummyfajitas »

_delirium wrote: post #13
Tycho wrote: post #5

Luckily the soil is fertile: All over the world, the hittistes and shabab atileen, NEETs and freeters and boomerang kids are hungry for a chance to thrive. Hmm, but how hungry? Compared to say people who came of age in the 40s or 50s? I'm not sure hungry is the right word. Restless maybe. Peckish.

The Americans at least that I know who came of age in the 50s as anything close to middle-class weren't very hungry at all. They lived in a world of corporate jobs for life, defined-benefit pensions, comprehensive employer-provided health-care with no deductibles/copays/exclusions, low unemployment, etc. Even blue-collar workers had quite strong unions, high pay, and great pensions/healthcare in the 50s. Granted, if…

Unfortunately, the jobs paid for a much lower standard of living than today, the health insurance would pay a doctor to tell you "you have terminal cancer", and all of this was only available to white males.

(Meanwhile, a terrorist group with millions of members was setting off about 20 bombs a year plus assorted lynchings and other acts of violence. The response by law enforcement was mainly gun control targeted at the victims of the terrorist group.)

The world of Mad Men is awesome if you get to be Don Draper. For everyone else, it sucked.

Re: The Youth Unemployment Bomb

#93

Post by JohnnyBrown »

kjhgfdfgh wrote: post #55
kjhgfdfgh wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The trouble is that they might get confused between overthrowing our stalwart allies in the war against terrorism like Mubarek and start thinking that there is no real difference between a dictator for life and a government that relects the same group of millionaire business leaders every year or one where the same bunch of toffs from the same few fancy schools get to be in charge.

Suppose you have a 'democratic' country where the same party has been in power since independance. The party leaders have got rich by telling everyone else the country is booming - when it was all a property scam. Now they have 30% youth unemployment and are cutting school and college funding to pay for it. They were quiet happy to support terrorists in another country for their own political gains - they might want…

Ireland?

Re: The Youth Unemployment Bomb

#94

Post by stevenbedrick »

andresmh wrote: post #86
throw02082011 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who has omitted their college degree and left off that I'm currently in a grad program, you try that in retail and they ask "well, what have you done all this time?" The time needs to be accounted for.

Could you say that you were helping a family business or living abroad?

You really, really, really don't want to give false statements on a job application. That's usually grounds for termination should it come to light.

Re: The Youth Unemployment Bomb

#95

Post by _delirium »

gaius wrote: post #90
rdouble wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WPA was long after Dickens.

I don't know what that is, some American thing? Here in the UK every time it's suggested the word "Dickensian" gets bandied about and that's that.

It's the main historical example of a make-work program in the U.S., during the Great Depression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Works_Progress_Administration

Perhaps because the WPA is a lot more recent, it seems to be the thing Americans think of when a make-work program is suggested. I don't think I've ever heard them criticized as Dickensian; instead they tend to be criticized as socialist.

Re: The Youth Unemployment Bomb

#96

Post by rorrr »

mikecarlucci wrote: post #85
rorrr wrote: post #65

Anther problem is the education that people choose. The world is full of "VCR repairmen", while everyone is using disposable bluray players. I see it again and again, students pick silly, simple or just useless degrees, such as * philosophy * international relations (every single one of those wants to work for the UN, maybe 0.001% ends up there). * arts, all kinds * history (how many historians do we really need) Don…

Not to troll, but Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, Leonardo DaVinci etc. were all technical people with understanding of philosophy, art, history, mathematics. Obviously these are cherry-picked examples, but having only technical knowledge isn't a great solution either.

I never said anything about technical only knowledge. I myself took a few art classes, and enjoyed them.

What I said is that people pick these majors, and then we see these crazy unemployment stats. Most of these unemployed people are not qualified to do anything that society is willing to pay money for.

Re: The Youth Unemployment Bomb

#97

Post by mikecarlucci »

rorrr wrote: post #96
mikecarlucci wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to troll, but Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, Leonardo DaVinci etc. were all technical people with understanding of philosophy, art, history, mathematics. Obviously these are cherry-picked examples, but having only technical knowledge isn't a great solution either.

I never said anything about technical only knowledge. I myself took a few art classes, and enjoyed them. What I said is that people pick these majors, and then we see these crazy unemployment stats. Most of these unemployed people are not qualified to do anything that society is willing to pay money for.

OK. Just making sure. Sometimes "the arts" get too much of a bad wrap here.

Re: The Youth Unemployment Bomb

#98

Post by wonderzombie »

prostoalex wrote: post #70
rst wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about putting back together giant structures that are falling apart? Our infrastructure is rotting away --- that Minneapolis bridge collapse in 2007 was a bit of a wake-up call. There's no shortage of stuff in the United States that needs to get fixed.

Wouldn't you need some specialized skills for that? Trusting unemployed psychology majors with bridge reenforcement doesn't inspire much confidence.

After the housing bust, I'm thinking you could find plenty of construction workers with necessary and/or relevant skills.

Re: The Youth Unemployment Bomb

#99

Post by gaius »

_delirium wrote: post #95
gaius wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know what that is, some American thing? Here in the UK every time it's suggested the word "Dickensian" gets bandied about and that's that.

It's the main historical example of a make-work program in the U.S., during the Great Depression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Works_Progress_Administration Perhaps because the WPA is a lot more recent, it seems to be the thing Americans think of when a make-work program is suggested. I don't think I've ever heard them criticized as Dickensian; instead they tend to be criticized as socialist.

Paying people to make stuff isn't a bad idea, if your government would be doing public works (e.g. roads) anyway, you just get to do that stuff a bit quicker.

Paying people to do made-up jobs (e.g. most of the UK public sector) just destroys wealth.

Re: The Youth Unemployment Bomb

#100

Post by stevejohnson »

rdouble wrote: post #36
patio11 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I keep forgetting that the thriving tech scene in rural Japan skews my perspective so much. Seriously, though: if this is true, shouldn't programmers be basically incapable of dating (skew in industry, barriers to meeting outside)? It can't be harder to meet people than to date people. They go to places and do things. Well known places, most of which are in the phone book, many of which are open to the public, etc. I…

Programmers are basically incapable of dating...

No other comment I have ever read on HN has made me as angry as this one.

My last emotional response comment wasn't such a good idea, so I'll leave you to your bigotry.

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