-
Yes, this problem is definitely structural and not cyclical. Many things have dramatically changed in the past 10 years.
All of BeerBelly's points are valid.
Although these macro events are raining down the double whammy of debt and unemployment upon the youth, I think that it is unwise to expect anything from politicians or the government. They will make things worse before they make things better
(beerbelly, this is not a rebuttal to what you were saying, just pointing out that government won't help young people out).
Thus, young people have to acknowledge the following:
1. I am of no value to anyone in the current local job market
2. Nobody forced me to take on debt and learn French literature or Anthropology. This was my decision and I am responsible for the actions in my own life.
3. I have the right to a job when I am qualified with the proper skills for that job and I am individually responsible for equipping myself with those skills to not make myself irrelevant in the global economy.
4. Many of the kinds of skills that I need to be relevant in the 21st century can be found online and acquired over a period of 3-24 months with diligence and practice.
http://www.codecademy.com
http://www.udemy.com
http://www.coursera.com
http://www.lynda.com
http://www.onemonthrails.com
5. If I am not valuable where I am, I have to clarify my USP and the value that I actually DO add to potential employers - then seek out those opportunities, where ever in the world they may be.
-----
The unemployment crisis is very simple to define, in my opinion.
Changes in the global economy have rendered you useless where you currently are physically located. Thus you should physically relocate yourself to where opportunities exist for someone with your profile.
Whether they like it or not, 22-24 year old college graduates with degrees in the humanities and student loan debt are totally useless in the job market in North America and Europe.
Where is this person valuable?
When all you can do is write papers, speak English, and use the internet, the best immediate option for making a salary and saving money or paying off your debts is to teach English in Asia.
Thus, you can consider a two-three year period when you are teaching English and paying off your debts as a sort of
"Masters in 21st Century Digital Skills"
Say that you have 30K in student loan debts. Over a period of 2.5 years you can:
1. Get work experience teaching (still counts as work experience!)
2. Have an amazing life story
3. Travel while you are young
4. Pay off your 30K of student loan debt by budgeting correctly
5. Date amazing women
6. Network with internationals in the fastest growing region in the world
7. Teach yourself wordpress, graphic design, coding, microsoft office, iWork suite, PHP, python, ruby on rails, creation of mobile apps, copywriting, SEO -
all for less than the cost of ONE COLLEGE COURSE.
8. Try, fail, try again, and ultimately succeed with low risk and small scale business ventures such as:
flipping mobile websites in underserved markets and in your local neighborhood where ever you live.
Flipping basic wordpress sites for businesses in the local city where you are teaching
Import/Export during your free time like the guys at
http://www.theelevatorlife.com
----
Thus after this period of time you will have acquired the technical skills that you are interested in - whether it's PHP, graphic design, mobile game development, import/export - and also tested your skills out in a low risk real-time environment.
Your mentality going into this should be:
At WORST I will pay off my student loan debt, get two or three years of teaching experience, build up various skillsets to proficiency that will make me valuable as a 21st century digital worker, and have a bunch of skills/portfolio/experiences that will make me useful and employable.
The BEST situation is that you have picked up a business opportunity that allows you to pursue a scale-able venture of some sort.
PHP, CSS, HTML, Javascript, Python, Ruby on Rails, Graphic Design - do not forget these facts:
1. Nobody is BORN a coding genius.
2. You do not have to become a coding GENIUS -
you just have to become good enough to use it in a business environment.
3. You may think you are not "left brained enough" to master these skills. But many people have picked up these skills on their own by experimenting with their own projects.
Simultaneously, you can do what I did and find a reliable partner to work with who sees your vision and commit to the long run. This is hard to find but once you do find that technical person, treat this person well, work hard, display your value through your actions, and don't get go!
----
Obama's fault? Bush's fault? Bankers' fault? Illuminati's fault? FED's fault?
Does it matter?
Whether your current situation is a result of your own decisions or because of the economic crisis, the fact of the matter is the only thing you can control is what you do RIGHT NOW.
This is the crisis our generation is facing. Whether we pull ourselves out of it by going abroad and coming back equipped with 21st century skills and bilingualism......or by complaining and occupying wall street, hoping for a "bailout" - we will be defined by how we react to this crisis and if we decide to become victims or if we turn this into an opportunity to explore the other 95% of the world that is not the United States.
My dream is an International Generation Y.
A generation Y that shuts the smug boomers up.
We will go abroad and learn new langauges. We will broaden our horizons.
We'll strike up business deals in Mandarin, Spanish, Russian, and Arabic. We'll be Americans and Canadians brokering cement, android tablets, and services between Nigerians and Cantonese businessmen.
My dream is that we will pull America out of this crisis by pulling ourselves individually out of this crisis.
America consists of individuals. It's us as citizens and individuals that comprise our nation and when we collectively pull ourselves out of a shitty situation, we will see a better future.
Imagine if 1M Gen Y millenials left abroad to teach english, go to the peace corps, and explore business opportunities in the middle east, Africa, FSU, Asia, Latin America?
Then came back with all of those skills, languages, connections, and experiences?
We could pave the way for the next wave of unemployed grads that are going to hit the market soon.
In my humble opinion, "self-globalization" is the answer to the unemployment crisis.
-