Historically, young people suffer the worst during an economic downturn, but rarely have they struggled as much as they do now. Normally, young people have the least work experience and little to no proof that they can apply what they learned in college to the labor force. They struggle to find work as their hopes for the future diminish, and they have the economy to blame.
In this job market, not only do young people have the most to prove to prospective employers, but they also have to fight against more experienced workers who refuse to retire because the uncertainty of the economy, their retirements and pensions.
According to an AARP survey of adults 50 and over conducted last fall, 52.6 percent of participants were not confident that they will have enough money to live comfortably when they retire. More than a third (33.4 percent) said that they planned to delay retirement, while 44.1 percent said that they would likely work part-time in retirement.
This results in a clogged labor market with inert workers who may be keeping younger people from either getting their first jobs, or preventing younger employees from working their way up to higher positions within their companies.
If young people don’t find their first jobs soon after graduating, the consequences can be severe. Young people who don’t find work in a timely manner risk the chance that their skills will atrophy.
Prospective employers may perceive them as entitled or too lazy to find work. In fear of this, or more likely just because they need to pay their bills, young people might end up accepting jobs that they are overqualified for, otherwise called underemployment.
A Gallup Poll taken in June found that 8.6 percent of respondents were unemployed, but underemployment was much higher at 18.1 percent (and this is just what those surveyed are reporting — the actual numbers are probably much worse). With youth always suffering the highest unemployment rates, the numbers are quite bleak.
And those who are at least collecting a paycheck but are underemployed aren’t making nearly as much money as their peers who perform jobs that require a college degree.
The Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University reports underemployed young college graduates earn 30 percent to 40 percent less than their peers who work in jobs that require college degrees.
So those working as bank tellers, waiters, bartenders or grocery store clerks — as many underemployed young graduates are — likely will have difficulty paying back all that debt they accumulated in obtaining seemingly useless college degrees.
Clearly, something must be done to get young college graduates into the work force, but young people aren’t counting on President Obama like they did in the 2008 election.
More and more young people blame Obama for the economy and their current state of joblessness. They suffer from buyer’s remorse. Young people counted on Obama for “hope” and “change” that wasn’t delivered.
Forty-four percent of respondents age 18 to 29 don’t approve of how Obama has handled youth unemployment, according to a recent poll conducted for Generation Opportunity, a nonprofit that seeks to inform youth about the nation’s economic problems.
Disturbingly, 77 percent of respondents reported either delaying or expecting to delay a major life change or purchase for economic reasons.
The poll highlighted young people’s uneasiness about the future, finding that many of them intend to delay buying a home, saving for retirement, paying off student loans or other debt, going back to school or getting more education or training, changing jobs or cities, starting a family or even getting married.
And for young people, it keeps getting worse. A Gallup Poll conducted in April concluded that young people don’t expect to have the same opportunities their parents did.
Nikki Grey is a recent graduate of the University of Nevada whose articles have appeared in the Daily Caller, The Washington Examiner and other publications.
