[p2p-research] The Jobless Millennials

[Ryan Lanham]

It's right on target in my view.  Couldn't agree more....

Ryan

On Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 5:46 PM, Kevin Carson <
free.market.anticapitalist at gmail.com> wrote:

>
>
> Sent to you by Kevin Carson via Google Reader:
>
>
> The Jobless Millennials<http://anyakamenetz.blogspot.com/2010/03/jobless-millennials.html>
>  via The Narrow Bridge <http://anyakamenetz.blogspot.com/> by
> noreply at blogger.com (Anya) on 3/1/10
>
> This month's issue of The Atlantic contains a long thoughtful and downcast
> article<http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/print/2010/03/how-a-new-jobless-era-will-transform-america/7919/>about the possible effects of long-term unemployment on the American
> national character.
>
> One section in particular is very much up my alley: about how the shifting
> job market and how it might affect the Millennial generation. Graduating
> into a recession, it turns out, can afflict your income for a lifetime. "Seventeen
> years after graduation, those who had entered the workforce during
> inhospitable times were still earning 10 percent less on average than those
> who had emerged into a more bountiful climate."
>
> As my sister Kezia, <http://fullobaloney.blogspot.com/> a 2009 Yale
> graduate, commented on Buzz: "UM....scary for peeps my age :(" And her
> friends chimed in , "Schnikies." " i had this article mentioned to me
> today during a job interview. needless to say, there was no real job being
> offered."
>
> The article argues that Millennials are especially ill-equipped to deal
> with this unprecedented era of long-term joblessness because of their
> (supposed) crippling high-self esteem, and because they don't understand the
> meaning of hard work. It also argued that there are widespread socially
> negative effects of long-term joblessness--especially for men--include
> depression, alcoholism, and broken families.
>
> But...I think there's a hole in this logic. It crystallized for me
> yesterday when I was part of a panel (including this technologist<http://www.josh.is/>,
> this simplicity expert<http://anyakamenetz.blogspot.com/www.simplerwork.com>,
> and this social media maven<http://anyakamenetz.blogspot.com/www.deannazandt.com/>)
> speaking to Professor Kyra Gaunt's Anthro 101 class at Baruch College. This
> was a very diverse group of 19 and 20 year olds and we were talking to them
> about hacking their way through the system to get what they need.
>
> I realized that it's exactly this generation's unreasonable optimism that
> gives me the most hope for our future. Millennials aren't full of despair if
> we don't get the "perfect" job right out of college--our expectations are
> already adjusted. Young men are free from the demand that they automatically
> be breadwinners. Young people are learning to cultivate other values outside
> of work, and to take risks to seek work that meets their values. All that
> time we're spending inventing and building social networks and new ways of
> communicating with each other will translate into social capital and will
> serve us to build a society that doesn't depend on income to buy happiness.
> We will increasingly turn to each other to get what we need and to make what
> we want.
>
> Yes, we still need to figure out better ways to get people health care and
> housing and education. The legacy problems of an economy in decline are not
> going away any time soon. But I have confidence that past performance does
> not have to guarantee future results. And this generation might just be the
> perfect people for this time.
>
>
>
> Things you can do from here:
>
>    - Subscribe to The Narrow Bridge<http://www.google.com/reader/view/feed%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fanyakamenetz.blogspot.com%2Ffeeds%2Fposts%2Fdefault%3Falt%3Drss?source=email>using
>    *Google Reader*
>    - Get started using Google Reader<http://www.google.com/reader/?source=email>to easily keep up with
>    *all your favorite sites*
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Ryan Lanham
rlanham1963 at gmail.com
Facebook: Ryan_Lanham
P.O. Box 633
Grand Cayman, KY1-1303
Cayman Islands
(345) 916-1712
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