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Coming from southern Europe, I have to say that we have been there 20 years ago and it looks ugly. In Southern Europe, the family (and not the individual) is t

Coming from southern Europe, I have to say that we have been there 20 years ago and it looks ugly. In Southern Europe, the family (and not the individual) is the smallest decision making unit and it is typical to have 3 generations of people living under the same roof, all of them supporting (and applying pressure to) each other in different ways. Parents and grandparents are helping youth financially. Youth in Southern Europe is typically highly educated, however, the job opportunities for high-skilled labor are quite limited. Naturally, there are two options for overqualified youth: leave the family and get an underpaid job that cannot help them anyway to break even, or keep relying exclusively on their family (with the attached daily complaining from their end). Result: Youth unemployment rates > 50%, businessess that cannot find cheap labor and close, economy that stays stagnant for decades.

ipnon 6y ago
It would be quite a dilemma to choose between the livelihood of my dependent family and the opportunity to make more money elsewhere. What have been the solutions to this problem in Southern Europe?
- whatever1 6y ago
  There is no solution. Significant percentage of qualified youth is migrating to Northern Europe or US where there is short supply for high skill labor (doctors, engineers etc), the rest are just coasting with their families. Weddings and birth-rates are also plummeting, which indicates that youth also have low confidence about their future. The reason that this structure exists is that older generations accumulated wealth in an era that economy was roaring, and the state was able to provide ample support (free higher education, healthcare, high pensions). This cannot be sustained with the current stagnant economies. Only solution that I can think of is to embrace immigration, & impose tarrifs to imports from Asia, to restart low cost manufacturing & large scale agriculture in the south. This will also make available positions for high-skilled labor (engineers, mbas etc). The uglier possibility is that the states collapse due to their unsustainable welfare policies, and everyone goes back to their fields for digging.

ipnon 6y ago

It would be quite a dilemma to choose between the livelihood of my dependent family and the opportunity to make more money elsewhere. What have been the solutions to this problem in Southern Europe?

whatever1 6y ago
There is no solution. Significant percentage of qualified youth is migrating to Northern Europe or US where there is short supply for high skill labor (doctors, engineers etc), the rest are just coasting with their families. Weddings and birth-rates are also plummeting, which indicates that youth also have low confidence about their future. The reason that this structure exists is that older generations accumulated wealth in an era that economy was roaring, and the state was able to provide ample support (free higher education, healthcare, high pensions). This cannot be sustained with the current stagnant economies. Only solution that I can think of is to embrace immigration, & impose tarrifs to imports from Asia, to restart low cost manufacturing & large scale agriculture in the south. This will also make available positions for high-skilled labor (engineers, mbas etc). The uglier possibility is that the states collapse due to their unsustainable welfare policies, and everyone goes back to their fields for digging.