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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 p

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? Lastly, how do the young unemployed feel? Are they angry? Are they carefree? Or are they filled with despair and hopelessness?

jcrites 13y ago
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?
- ferongr 13y ago
  They live with their parents.
- flexie 13y ago
  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.
  - autodafe 13y ago
    Welfare, free health care, free education... Free to him but it has to be paid for by someone. As more people rely on those benefits, the cost goes up for those who contribute to the system. The frightening question is what happens when the well runs dry?
    - zanny 13y ago
      Considering how, in the US at least, wealth and asset holdings has extremely concentrated itself in the top fraction of the population in the last 30 years, probably not soon. I mean, most of these states aren't raising taxes, but are playing with monetary gears to keep money injection from spurring inflation (albeit they have had huge taxes for decades).
      - autodafe 13y ago
        Just because the well runs deep, doesn't mean it's right to steal water from it, unearned.
        obstacle1 13y ago
        In the end capital ownership and property rights are just concepts we've collectively agreed are legitimate. Once living conditions become dystopian and wealth inequality skyrockets even more than it already has, I suspect society will legitimize "stealing" from the well. Notably, the well doesn't care whether or not you steal water from it. The water was never 'owned' by it in the first place.
        autodafe 13y ago
        I agree that ownership and property rights are an invention - though one of a free society. And you are correct that society can just as easily decide that these rights are no longer valid, though that is not a society I would ever consider free. To a certain extent that is happening already. The day the individual is forced to give up his last right and his last dollar to the ugly greed of the 'collective good' will be a sad day indeed.
- zalew 13y ago
  the average age of a homeless person for Poland is 51(f) to 55(m). around Europe to be homeless & young you usually are a junkie, the rest just stays with their parents.
- zanny 13y ago
  I've lived at home for a year. Since my mother, father, and grandparents (3 homes) are within 30 miles, I end up doing a lot of lawn mowing, appliance maintenance, and obviously IT work for them, in addition to housecleaning (on an epic scale), etc. In return I've had a year to learn a bunch of new tech without job pressure.
javs42 13y ago
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.

jcrites 13y ago

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?

ferongr 13y ago
They live with their parents.
flexie 13y ago
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.
- autodafe 13y ago
  Welfare, free health care, free education... Free to him but it has to be paid for by someone. As more people rely on those benefits, the cost goes up for those who contribute to the system. The frightening question is what happens when the well runs dry?
  - zanny 13y ago
    Considering how, in the US at least, wealth and asset holdings has extremely concentrated itself in the top fraction of the population in the last 30 years, probably not soon. I mean, most of these states aren't raising taxes, but are playing with monetary gears to keep money injection from spurring inflation (albeit they have had huge taxes for decades).
    - autodafe 13y ago
      Just because the well runs deep, doesn't mean it's right to steal water from it, unearned.
      - obstacle1 13y ago
        In the end capital ownership and property rights are just concepts we've collectively agreed are legitimate. Once living conditions become dystopian and wealth inequality skyrockets even more than it already has, I suspect society will legitimize "stealing" from the well. Notably, the well doesn't care whether or not you steal water from it. The water was never 'owned' by it in the first place.
        autodafe 13y ago
        I agree that ownership and property rights are an invention - though one of a free society. And you are correct that society can just as easily decide that these rights are no longer valid, though that is not a society I would ever consider free. To a certain extent that is happening already. The day the individual is forced to give up his last right and his last dollar to the ugly greed of the 'collective good' will be a sad day indeed.
zalew 13y ago
the average age of a homeless person for Poland is 51(f) to 55(m). around Europe to be homeless & young you usually are a junkie, the rest just stays with their parents.
zanny 13y ago
I've lived at home for a year. Since my mother, father, and grandparents (3 homes) are within 30 miles, I end up doing a lot of lawn mowing, appliance maintenance, and obviously IT work for them, in addition to housecleaning (on an epic scale), etc. In return I've had a year to learn a bunch of new tech without job pressure.

javs42 13y ago

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.