

Generation Limbo: Waiting It Out - giorgiofontana
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/01/fashion/recent-college-graduates-wait-for-their-real-careers-to-begin.html?_r=1&hp&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

======
angdis
This is no different than "generation X" in the early 90's. We were called
"slackers" then. Lots of well-educated folks with no real job prospects and no
money. I made $8/hour performing science demonstrations for children!

That's OK though, I think it was normal then and it is normal now. A life of
seamless transitions from school to successively higher prestige jobs is a
myth and probably always has been.

~~~
bh42222
_This is no different than "generation X" in the early 90's. We were called
"slackers" then._

Indeed. But I don't quite agree it is normal. Well it is "normal" if you
happen to be in a great recession. And I believe prior to this one, the early
90s recession had been the worst since WWII.

So Gen X and Gen Y (or Z?) have that in common.

Some generations get lucky and enter the job market during a long running
boom. But yes, if your coming of age happens to coincide with a recession,
your generation will be accused of being slackers.

Now, what I want to know is, are we going to get some good music out of this
recession/generation, like we did in the early 90s?

~~~
jbapple
> And I believe prior to this one, the early 90s recession had been the worst
> since WWII.

I disagree:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recessions_in_the_Unite...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recessions_in_the_United_States#Great_Depression_onwards)

The three recessions immediately preceding the early 90s recession (73-75, 80,
81-82) all had either higher unemployment, a larger GDP reduction, or both.

~~~
bh42222
I stand corrected.

------
wmeredith
“We did everything we were supposed to”

Did you do anything you weren't? I think that's the fundamental difference
when it comes to the entrepreneurial mindset. A willingness to question the
status quo and a willingness to bet you can do more.

I don't have a college degree, but I build, market and maintain web sites and
applications used by millions of people every year. It's very gratifying.

~~~
mkr-hn
<http://johnnybtruant.com/disobey/>

One of my favorite posts. I have a degree, but I use it to do things unrelated
to the subject of the degree. Graduating in the middle of an economic collapse
was unnerving. No jobs, and not much in the way of prospects. It took two more
years to shake it off.

I was fortunate because the degree was paid for by a scholarship. I feel bad
for people with thousands in debt and no sense of what to do.

------
shalmanese
The NYT has taken to churning out one of these predictable trend pieces about
once every two months or so because they know the predictable ire and outrage
it will spark. No matter how good or bad an economy, you can always cobble
together 4 or 5 anecdotes to generate predictable outrage. Notice that every
time, there's a notable absence of any kind of hard statistical data.

The truth is, unemployment among college graduates currently is at 4.3%
(<http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t04.htm>) which is historically high
but not overtly so.

~~~
haasted
Your link seems to present the unemployment rate of all college graduates,
regardless of graduation year. The article talks about recent graduates, which
are not singled out in the referenced statistics, so I think it's not entirely
applicable.

I do agree that the some hard data would make a nice addition to the article,
though.

~~~
roel_v
Well, good news then, here's a paragraph from the article:

"The numbers are not encouraging. About 14 percent of those who graduated from
college between 2006 and 2010 are looking for full-time jobs, either because
they are unemployed or have only part-time jobs, according to a survey of 571
recent college graduates released in May by the Heldrich Center at Rutgers."

~~~
streptomycin
That number is pretty meaningless without a comparison to what the number used
to be.

------
rwmj
"degree in English Literature" ... "hopes of working in the arts" ... and
working in McD's / coffee shops / bars. Looks like not much has changed.

~~~
aba_sababa
And hopefully something will, soon. We can't build or maintain a country with
our history degrees, and my generation has _yet_ to realize it. Say what you
will about the value of the humanities, but I can't help but suppress a "you
fool!" every time I hear one of my friends talking about their english, or
poli sci, or art history degrees.

Don't get me wrong - I have a degree in philosophy myself. But I recognized
that it would get me nowhere, so I picked up programming. I'm now looking
forward to making recruiters drool. However, independent self-improvement is
_not_ the trend among my peers, as far as I can tell.

------
6ren
tangent: is _$2.17 an hour_ really typical pay for waiting tables in the
states? In Australia, minimum wage is around $15 (I think). No wonder tipping
is so important in the US.

~~~
ap22213
"tipped labor must be paid a minimum of $2.13 per hour, as long as the hourly
wage plus tipped income result in a minimum of $7.25 per hour." [1]

[1]
[https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Minimum_wage_...](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Minimum_wage_in_the_United_States)

~~~
rdtsc
Guess what happens to those that the employer has to pay to make up the
difference?

~~~
samlevine
The same thing that happens to a salesperson that doesn't sell enough to
justify their (usually small) salary.

------
Justthisonce
If I were already in debt from going to college, I wouldn't compound the
problem by going to law school. Practicing law is not as lucrative as people
think, every new attorney doesn't start off making a lot, and whatever they do
make is blood money. Most law firms are sweatshops if you're an associate, and
these days, partners don't have it so great either. Instead of piling on more
debt, maybe that young woman from Dartmouth needs to stick with the paralegal
job to pay the bills and start working in the arts on the side. At least then
she'd be spending some of her time doing what she really wants to do. And who
knows what could come of it?

------
tristanoneil
Sounds like their only problem is expecting to find a job solely based on a
college degree. They should have taken into account the value of there career
path before blindly perusing it. While it may be enjoyable to major in English
Literature it probably doesn't guarantee you an instant career. As someone
from this generation I can tell you not enough emphasis is put on career
development beyond a college. I haven't finished college yet and I consider
myself to be fairly successful. It's a different world now college isn't
always necessary to succeed and it defiantly doesn't guarantee success.

------
jwhitlark
I got a laugh out of the guy who wanted to be a consultant fresh out of
school.

You can't make things happen in your own life, but you want my money so you
can tell me how to do things?

Why do people think they deserve a consulting gig just because they went to
school? _sigh_ Just another case of the "we got a trophy for everything, why
doesn't real life work like that?" syndrome.

