There’s been a lot of discussion about how young people are faring in this economy – and misconceptions about the reasons many are delaying adulthood. The most common myth is that young people simply choose to put off “growing up.”
Anyone living in everyday America can tell you, young workers don’t have a choice – they’re caught in today’s bad economy and are mature enough to know it. And unless we intervene, that’s where they’ll stay.
For the first time, young workers face the very real possibility of being worse off financially than their parents. Young people are out of work, and those who have jobs are often stuck working temporary, part-time or low-wage jobs. Many are delaying milestones other generations took for granted, like buying a house, getting married or having kids.
Who would “choose” this? Not the young workers that I know. They have ideas about how to change the state of affairs for them and their peers.
We can start by supporting our teachers, because education is the foundation for the future. The economic recession put pressure on state and local governments to cut funding to schools.
As teachers are laid off, classroom sizes increase, already stressed teachers are pushed to the limit and our children’s education suffers. Thanks to the emergency funding bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama, almost 200,000 teachers will not lose their jobs this summer. But that’s just the beginning.
It’s more difficult than ever for young people to get the training that’s required for a good job. Two in five young workers say they’ve had to delay education or professional development due to financial worries, according to polling.
Even then, education and training don’t guarantee young workers good jobs. Because young workers have less work experience than in past decades, they earn less and are less employable when they enter the workforce as adults. They also must compete with older, more experienced workers who have been forced to take entry-level positions after their jobs disappeared in this bad economy.
Even the most qualified young workers are finding themselves in jobs outside their chosen profession or with no job at all. Many are working longer hours for lower wages. They don’t have access to paid time off and get little support from their employer in saving for retirement. Nearly half of all young working parents don’t get paid for working overtime.
What could this mean for the future? Adults with resumé gaps are more likely to stay jobless and earn lower wages later in their lives. Studies show that if workers don’t make a solid connection to the workforce by the time they’re 25, they may never recover financially.
This is not the time for ordinary solutions. Unless we take deliberate and creative steps to create good jobs for the future—to invest in technology and infrastructure and making things in America again—we’re looking at an entire generation of workers who will contribute less in taxes to our economy, not to mention the waste of human potential.
Young workers didn’t choose this, and it doesn’t have to be this way. This younger generation works hard, has a strong sense of social responsibility and drive to make a difference. If we harness their energy, we can rebuild our country and ensure prosperity for the long-term.
Working people will be thinking hard about the choices they face in November. They want candidates who are willing to take on today’s challenges with innovation and energy.
On Election Day, workers will stand up for candidates with that drive. It will be a stark choice for workers of all ages, especially the younger generation.
Elizabeth Shuler is secretary treasurer of the 11.5 million-member AFL-CIO.
