How The System Is Failing Young People, By Robert Reich
- How the System is Failing Young People, By Robert Reich, Aug. 2021.
Theres a narrative out there that millennials and the Generation Zs behind them are lazy. Well, that is just bunk.
The reason a lot of young people are not doing nearly as well as their parents at this stage is that theyre paying huge amounts much more than their parents ever paid, as a proportion of their paychecks, for education, higher education or student debt, housing for rent, health care, even transportation.
All of these costs have increased faster than inflation, and at the same time, jobs are not paying that much more. One in 10 college graduates are underemployed. By underemployed, we mean they are not spending 40 hours a week doing things that are challenging and taking advantage of their education. One out of 20 is unemployed.
In the post World War II era, we have never seen anything like this. We have always expected that were going to do better. Individuals and families are going to do better. Theyre going to be trading upward, and their children are expected to do better than they have done.
For the first time now, we see the pendulum moving in exactly the opposite direction. Today, your chance of getting ahead as a young person is hugely dependent on the parents you have and their income and their wealth...
More, https://robertreich.org/
OldBaldy1701E
(5,092 posts)Skittles
(153,113 posts)I remember working a minimum wage job while renting an apartment and buying a used car, without going into huge debt......no way today young folk could do that.
OldBaldy1701E
(5,092 posts)It was not exactly that easy back then. However, the underlying point is that the system has always failed a percentage of the population. However these days, that percentage is a hell of a lot larger. Plus, the 'gamers' have eschewed any subtlety or facade of respectability in their quests to literally make sure that no one else has any where near the amounts that they do, thus insuring the continuation of said failed system.
Skittles
(153,113 posts)over and out