Unemployment For Young Americans Jumps To 52.2 Percent

[Christa]

The unemployment rate for young Americans has exploded to 52.2 percent -- a post-World War II high, according to the Labor Dept. -- meaning millions of Americans are staring at the likelihood that their lifetime earning potential will be diminished and, combined with the predicted slow economic recovery, their transition into productive members of society could be put on hold for an extended period of time.

And worse, without a clear economic recovery plan aimed at creating entry-level jobs, the odds of many of these young adults -- aged 16 to 24, excluding students -- getting a job and moving out of their parents' houses are long. Young workers have been among the hardest hit during the current recession -- in which a total of 9.5 million jobs have been lost.


http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/the_dead_end_kids_AnwaWNOGqsXMuIlGONNX1K






*

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. scary times

[Hannah Bell]

2. kick.

[NightWatcher]

3. the reason they cant find work is adults are working "kid jobs"

I'm working a very similar job to the same thing I did when I left highschool back in 93. Funny enough, I am making the same money as I did back then. Let's forget that now I have advanced degrees and had ten years experience in my field and owned my own small business.

[Liberal_in_LA]

7. yup. youngsters just out of school have to compete with 'advanced degrees",'10 yrs experience" for

entry level jobs.

[juno jones]

14. That's very true.

I stayed in cooking and worked myself up nearly to the top of the food chain. I have managed kitchens as a cook/chef and as a baker have worked for some very good catering businesses.

I'm working in a sports bar right now making burgers and fries. I followed one of my favorite chefs over there a few months ago. We get job applications from middle-aged people who have no restaurant experience but would 'really love to learn how to cook'.

One of our weekend guys also works at a Taco-Bell wanna be. One of their last applicants was a laid-off university professor.
Sometimes, chef and I laugh nervously together as we look at what's happening. In the end, turns out we weren't so stupid to stick with cooking. Problem is, once we have no customers...

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. it sucks that the new york post put a picture of Obama without that article.

[NightWatcher]

6. well he DID break the economy three years ago.

didnt he?

[Liberal_in_LA]

8. yeah, obama and Acorn did it.

[alcibiades_mystery]

5. Aaaaaaaalright

She was a young American...

[cliffordu]

9. Now THIS could get dangerous.....

Evrywhere I hear the sound of marching, charging feet, boy
cause summers here and the time is right for fighting in the street, boy
But what can a poor boy do
Except to sing for a rock n roll band
cause in sleepy london town
Theres just no place for a street fighting man
No

Hey! think the time is right for a palace revolution
But where I live the game to play is compromise solution
Well, then what can a poor boy do
Except to sing for a rock n roll band
cause in sleepy london town
Theres no place for a street fighting man
No

[pinto]

10. Don't see where the Post author got 52%.....Post hit piece?

Bureau of Labor Statistics notes unemployment at record levels among 16 - 24, but there is no mention of 52%.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/youth.t02.htm

Unemployment

In July 2009, 4.4 million youth were unemployed, up by nearly 1.0 million from July 2008. The youth unemployment rate was 18.5 percent in July 2009, the highest July rate on record for the series, which began in 1948. As with the decline in employment, the increase in youth unemployment in the summer of 2009 reflected a weak job market.

The July 2009 unemployment rates for young men (19.7 percent), women (17.3 percent), whites (16.4 percent), blacks (31.2 percent), Asians (16.3 percent), and Hispanics (21.7 percent) increased from a year earlier. (See table 2.)

the Post author may be spinning this data as "unemployment" -

Employment

In July 2009, 19.3 million 16- to 24-year-olds were employed. This summer's increase in youth employment was lower than last year's (1.6 million vs. 1.9 million). The employment-population ratio for youth-- the proportion of the 16- to 24-year-old civilian noninstitutional population that was employed--was 51.4 percent in July, down 4.6 percentage points from July 2008. The ratio has fallen by nearly 18 percentage points since its peak in July 1989. The steep decline from July 2008 to July 2009 reflects, in part, continued weak labor market conditions due to the recession that began in December 2007. (See table 2.)


The employment-population ratio for young men was 52.2 percent in July 2009, down from 57.9 percent in July 2008. The employment-population ratios for women (50.5 percent), whites (55.2 percent), blacks (36.4 percent), Asians (41.3 percent), and Hispanics (46.5 percent) in July 2009 also were lower than a year earlier.

:shrug:

[martymar64]

11. Watch for a huge increase in violent crime and drug dealing amongst the young

With an unemployment rate that high, it's all but inevitable.

[kestrel91316]

12. My brilliant, talented niece, newly graduated from the U of Iowa's

graduate writer's program, previously graduated summa cum laude (BA in language)from NYU, aged 24, is utterly unemployed. She went to FL to look for work (is staying with the DBF and his family), but has had ZERO luck, not even any interviews. I feel awful for her and am surprised that she is not completely demoralized. She had hoped for a tenure-track university position before the economy collapsed, but of course schools aren't hiring at all.

My nephew is still in college, and looking at possibly medical school. He may as well continue his education. There wouldn't be any work for him with his dual major of language and biology. There's no work for ANYBODY.

[jotsy]

13. I'm still picking my chin up off the keyboard!

Why is everybody talking about over taxed generations to come when we know something like that about those who should have been able to expect a hint of viability. I don't understand how much has to be broken before someone will act as a rudder to navigate these harsh waters that bounce us to and fro. A statistic like that is both staggering and dangerous. Nothing to do and no way to sustain themselves? It won't be long before a scenario like that takes its toll on an already stressed citizenry.

As I have a little more time to consider things, I find myself wondering how much of this is about keeping the military at the front and center of options. As much as I'd like to damn the corporate conundrum and the dirty rat bastards who decide war is a source of national pride, we'll all be damned if they don't get stopped and soon.

[roamer65]

15. Sounding a lot like Europe, except...

countries like France or Germany have more of a social safety net for the unemployed.