Millennial generation faces realities of current economy
By Carter Ashforth, Contributing Writer
College grads set sights on immediate employment and often come up short.
Needless to say, the United States is in the midst of an unemployment crisis; however, one might not suspect the extent to which young, disillusioned college graduates have contributed to current rates of unemployment. Recent studies have shown that young adults between the ages of 16 and 24 are leaving the workforce altogether, perhaps to go back to school or spend time traveling abroad. A study based at Rutgers University, for example, has found that one-fifth of recent college graduates have left the workforce and instead returned to school, according to Jennifer Ludden of National Public Radio (NPR).
According to the Economic Policy Institute, the unemployment rate for young adults under the age of 25 registered at 16.4 percent in March 2012. Additionally, young people with a college education insist that their advanced degrees have been of little aid in the current economy; statistics from the Economic Policy Institute echo grads’ dissatisfaction as 19.1 percent were deemed “underemployed” from April 2011 through March 2012.
This is not just a problem that affects the nation’s collective unemployment rate, but rather one that affects the nation’s economic condition at large. The Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University has found that six out of 10 students are in debt from college loans. Many college grads are slipping deeper into debt each month that they remain unemployed.
Journalist Chuck Raasch of USA Today suggests that history may, in fact, be repeating. Through his own research, Rassch found that students born and raised in affluence during the GI generation, which spanned from 1901 through 1924, faced similar rates of unemployment in a slow economy after graduation from college. Children of the current ‘millennial generation,’ during which today’s college grads were born, also grew up in a world of economic prosperity.
Moreover, Raasch found that today’s young adults faced an atmosphere of hyper-sensitivity, likely due in part to traumatic events such as the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, that gave way to over-protective parents and extremely sheltered childhoods. In Raasch’s interview with Tim Elmore, a specialist in the emotional and mental development of young adults, Elmore explained, “We have prepared the path for the child instead of the child for the path. We have paved the way, but now there are unpaved roads out there that are rocky and dirty.”
The cultural gap between young adults and their parents now remains excessively large as these two generations were raised in two entirely different versions of American society. The millennial generation, which now stands generally bewildered in a difficult job market, is a product of its time and social environment that spawned notions of entitlement. Comparatively, many parents of today’s graduates grew up accustomed to the necessity of hard work.
Brooke Ashforth, a 49-year-old resident of Greenwich, Connecticut, attests to the prominent conception that many graduates emerge from college with the expectation of immediate employment and professional satisfaction.
“[The millennial] generation feels that, after coming out of college, they deserve high-paying, interesting jobs. [My generation] learned that you need to get your foot in the door and work your way up. I started as an assistant at a prominent advertisement agency in New York City and worked my way up. I think this generation quits pretty quickly on stuff,” said Ashforth.
Some observers, however, admit that the current crop of college grads are indeed at a disadvantage in the modern economy. Heidi Shierholz, for instance, a labor economist employed with the Economic Policy Institute, said, “I don’t think [children of the millennial generation] are more lazy. It’s that there are less opportunities for them. They have it rough.”
In my opinion, the key to success among recent graduates is to remain open-minded as you enter the job market; take what you can get and move up from there. Also, always keep networking – you never know who could help you someday – and, above all, gain a lot of experience.
Our generation may face a “rough” economy, but hope is not lost. Navigate college with a smart, open and determined manner and, upon graduation, get your foot in the door and work your way up.
