The Ninja Generation — Young Workers Still Suffering Economically
It is not an easy time to be a young person in America. This blog has written before about the struggles Millenials, or as they are other wise called the “Ninja” Generation (No Income, No Job or Assets), face in the current job market. Young people graduating high school or college and eager to enter the workforce (or simply struggling to support themselves) are left with few options. There is the finance major who has been unemployed for two years. Or the factory worker who was the last one hired and the first one fired when his company cut shifts.
A report released last month by the Joint Economic Committee confirms these personal stories with startling numbers. From The American Reporter,
one in five workers between the ages of 16 and 24 was unemployed in April. The current youth unemployment rate of 19.6 percent is the highest for the age group since the government began tracking the data in 1947, the JEC said.
Although 16- to 24-year-olds make up 13 percent of the labor force, they represent 26 percent of the unemployed, according to the JEC report; 16- to 17-year-olds have it even worse, with a 29-percent unemployment rate. Since the current recession began more than two years ago, young people between 16 and 25 have lost more than 2.5 million jobs, making them the hardest-hit age group.
In short, if you’re under 30, you’re more likely to be out of work. You’ll now find yourself competing against people twice your age with college degrees and decades of experience for entry-level positions. If you found a job before the recession got really bad, you’re more likely to be the first one laid off. And, if the current “jobless recovery” continues for the next couple of years, the 80 million people under the age of 30 will have a hard time making up lost income and job experience.
The numbers get even grimmer when you focus specifically on teenagers and take out the fresh-out-of-college crowd. Time reports:
Teens now make up just 3.2% of the nation’s working population, down from a high of nearly 9% in the mid-1970s. In all, 4.5 million teens have some form of employment, about half the 8.2 million who were employed three decades ago. Carlton Tucker, a store manager at Best Buy in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, recently told a group of teens at a nearby job-training program that it was unlikely they would land positions at his store — because they are up against much more experienced workers. “We have a lot of people filling out applications who used to make $20 an hour and work in an office,” says Tucker. “I try to have a mix, but it is a much harder choice to make these days to hire that teen.”
-snip-
Sum estimates there are 4.2 million teens who can’t find a job, have stopped trying or would like to be working more than they are. That’s up 84% from 2007. A job used to be a rite of passage for a teen and, anecdotally at least, a first step to a successful career. Ross Perot, Warren Buffett and Walt Disney had newspaper routes. As recently as 15 years ago, nearly 60% of all newspaper carriers in the U.S. were teens. These days, that figure is less than 20%. Across the country, only 17 out of every 100 high school students have jobs. For African-American high schoolers, it is a mere 9 out of 100. For students who are both African American and from a low-income family, the number drops to 4 out of 100.
For teenagers, this means less money for personal spending, to contribute to the family, or even to save for college. Again from The American Reporter,
Young people are told to go to college if they want make something of themselves, yet tuition rates for four-year public universities have more than doubled since 1980, while financial aid has dwindled. As a result, nearly two-thirds of students graduating from four-year colleges in 2008 left school in debt.
Both reports stress how unemployment early in life can have detrimental effects on the individual, leading especially to a lower earning potential over a lifetime. From Time,
One reason to worry is that the timing of your first job often influences your future earning power. This summer, Yale economist Lisa Kahn completed a study that found that even 15 years after they entered the workforce, college graduates who first went to work in a weak economy (in her study, the early 1980s) tended to have lower incomes than those who entered the workforce when the economy was expanding. That could be explained by the normal salary arc of a professional life: one paycheck builds on another.
But the persistent lower pay suggests that workers who stumble getting their first job remain somewhat lower-skilled even decades later. Growing teen unemployment — a problem that started before the recession and has been exacerbated by it — could lead to an American workforce that lacks the skills to compete with the rest of the world. “If we lose a generation of workers, there is no way this economy is going to stay competitive,” says Joseph Walsh, director of the District of Columbia’s Department of Employment Services (DOES), which recently launched a new year-round youth-employment program. “This is an immediate crisis.”
This is a huge problem which is not receiving needed attention in the economic dialogue. Unless something is done, it has the power to seriously cripple the country in the long run.
Tags: unemployment, young workers
This wouldn’t be happening if small business were only supported by government. A lot of business owner are suffering and are denied by the banks when they request for loans. That are why more and more merchants are turning to merchant business cash advance, or merchant cash advance loans to leverage their credit card receipts.
Charles Baratta
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The reason banks aren’t lending is that many applicants for business loans have plans that are not realistic and they cannot demonstrate a clear ability to repay the loan. In the area where I live, since the fall of 200 businesses have been closing their doors every week because they do not correspond to the demand of what people need and can afford. A great deal of demand is moving from discretionary spending to health care. Banks know that customers aren’t going to buy a new refrigerator or have an extra carpet cleaning when they will have to make medical copays. Many people go into a business very starry eyed and think that customers will line up in front of that ice cream parlor, and they take out a $500,000 loan only to find that everyone is dieting. I think small businesses should consider building up from scratch and not continue the model of requiring massive debt in order to start operations. Banks have numerical models to predict the probability that a loan is going to be repaid. The new health care law is one of the best things for the economy because it steers spending into medical industries and into necessities instead of luxuries. Companies used to do this in their benefit plans, but then companies stopped offering comprehensive plans to all employees. Thirty years ago we didn’t need a government health care system because companies hire full time permanent workers and gave them a complete health insurance package on day one. Unfortunately it will be harder for people to open a business because being in a medical field requires education and training.
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Thanks for the very informative post about a topic that, like you say, is not brought up often enough in our economic dialogue. It makes me wonder how it affects young people socially and professionally to not have steady, gainful work in those early years; to not have those daily interactions and responsibilities and routine that help shape a person’s view of themselves and give dignity and purpose that can so often be taken for granted. Thanks again.
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As a young person (23 years old as I type this) who is going through it… I’ll tell you exactly how it feels. It feels like there is no hope, no light at the end of the tunnel. Jobs are scarce, and the only ones available are jobs that are demeaning. Fast food jobs, stocking grocery stores… dead end jobs. Meanwhile all the 50 somethings who still think finding a job is as easy as filling out a few applications don’t help boost self esteem either. It just makes matters worse. I feel like I have no purpose here. Like the American dream is just that, a dream. I’m left wondering, “What do they (the government, older generations, etc) want us to do?” There are so many people competing for jobs, and we’re put last. A family man will get hired before a kid fresh out of college, or layed off first. Where is our future? Where is our purpose? Where is our life, our American dream? There is none for us. That is how I feel, and I’m sure I am not alone.
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I hope that younger voters will become knowledgeable about the issue of Social Security and fight against any weakining of it for their generations. It is very easy to think that you will not need your Social Security, but things can happen when people are in their fifties and suddenly Social Security becomes the main component of one’s retirement. If younger people don’t stand up for themselves, the deficit hawks will walk all over them.
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Just because Bill Clinton balanced the budget doesn’t mean that he is an irresponsible dificit hawk. Bill Clinton strengthened Social Security and made it clear in his speeches that it was strong. In his earliest debates with the first Bush he made it clear that he advocated economic stimulus and he corrected an audience member who equated deficit reduction with strengthening the economy. We have to have discussions with young voters to make them aware that defending their future Social Security is a very serious matter.
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An older generation X’s view on the whole NINJA phenomenon:
http://lifeinthesinglemomlane.blogspot.com/2011/03/attack-of-ninjas-no-income-no-job-no_09.html
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The blog was absolutely fantastic! Lots of great information and inspiration, both of which we all need!b Keep ‘em coming… you all do such a great job at such Concepts… can’t tell you how much I, for one appreciate all you do!
BUSINESS LOAN
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i just came by your article and it get my attention. i thought I’d leave my first comment just to appreciate the hard work you done.
BUSINESS LOAN
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