
The millennial generation: Young, gifted and held back - sergeant3
http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21688856-worlds-young-are-oppressed-minority-unleash-them-young-gifted-and-held-back
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MollyR
I suspect this could be true. A lot of my friends from Princeton and Upenn
still don't have jobs, and its been a few years. The ones that did well were
engineering and finance degrees, and even then most were looking for jobs from
around 3 months to a year.

I've also noticed their parents seem more desperate to support their families,
some taking part-time jobs post retirement. The most extreme example I can
think of is one friend's dad an engineer who couldn't get hired became a
barber(in the midwest). It really seems like a bad situation for everyone,
like there aren't enough jobs for everyone.

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CM30
Of course, part of this is due to a vicious cycle in regards to voting. More
older people vote, so the governments listen more to the older folk. So
younger people think that government and politics is 'irrelevant' to them and
decide not to vote, so then in turn give the government less reason to listen
to them.

Not sure what the solution is here.

~~~
printering
I believe millennials have only recently overtaken baby boomers as the larger
voting demographic.

[http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/01/16/this-year-
mi...](http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/01/16/this-year-millennials-
will-overtake-baby-boomers/)

The article also seems to miss the student loan problem and how education
costs are no longer paid by working a summer job and often take ten years into
a career just to pay off.

~~~
bcheung
But millennials also have access to a virtually unlimited amount of education
for free right in their pocket because of the Internet.

Older generations didn't have that advantage.

College is but one route and only required in a few select licensed fields
like medical doctors, patent attorneys, etc.

It amazes me that millennials are still going to college even when the costs
are like 10x what it was for our parents. At some point the lost opportunity
cost from all that debt outweighs any additional income they could earn from
the degree.

You also need to factor in that someone has a 4-5 year head start if they just
start working immediately and gain education in the field.

If you go the college route, there is 4 years, and another 4 years to pay off
the debt. Contrast that to someone who works for a lower wage but can get into
a home earlier. A home in Silicon Valley at $500K and 4% appreciation for 8
years comes out to $684 or $184K ahead than the college graduate who is now
making maybe $15K more a year.

Also, someone with 4 years of actual work experience is not going to be that
far off from someone with a college degree and no work experience.

After 10-15 years of working in a field nobody cares whether you have a degree
or not and any income differences from college are now outweighed by personal
talent and ambition.

~~~
ionised
A significant number of employers won't even consider a person for an
interview unless they have that piece of paper with their degree on it from
any given college.

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nibs
Agreed. Various Waterloo and U of T friends here in Ontario are primarily
underemployed, unless they move somewhere booming like SV. Lots of late 60s,
early 70s people still banking up cash for retirement in technical roles that
young people should (ideally) be training for.

