The Nation: Generation Recession

[marmar]

Generation Recession
By Lizzy Ratner


November 4, 2009


When David Thyme was an even younger man than he is today, his fantasies of early adulthood did not include a 9:30 pm curfew and a bed in Covenant House, a shelter for homeless youth. Then again, they also didn't include a recession so severe that his financially strapped father would ask him to help with rent--or that when he couldn't find an entry-level job to do so, his father would ask him to leave home. "He was like, Son, you got to do what you got to do. I can't have you in my house," recalled the thin-faced 18-year-old from the Bronx.

Shawn Bolden, an earnest 23-year-old from Harlem, also nursed a different vision of his youthful years. A graduate of Monroe College with a degree in criminal justice, he imagined dedicating his days to nurturing the minds of the next generation of neglected students, doing his part to solder shut the school-to-prison pipeline. But since losing his job teaching arts and college prep at a local nonprofit in June, he's been struggling to find his way back into the classroom, all the while worrying about feeding his newborn daughter.

And then there's Charles Channon. A 25-year-old graduate of George Washington University, he dreamed that his postcollege days would be devoted to an onward-and-upward career with an international development firm--or at least a job with which to pay off $65,000 in college debt. "I wouldn't pretend that there's absolutely no conceit in me, but I do want to get out there and make the best difference I can," he said.

So much for youthful fantasies. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091123/ratner

[orpupilofnature57]

1. I was born in 1957 , all we had to do was show up ,today is much harder

for young people to survive.

[tularetom]

2. And yet...

I ran into the HR director from my old employer the other day. He mentioned they had advertised for my old position and got ONE qualified applicant. And this was their second try. The job pays about $125K with decent civil service benefits including full employer paid medical insurance.

I don't get it.

[SharonAnn]

4. Sounds like we haven't been educating or developing people? Or not paying enough?

[patrice]

3. Fantasies? Well then, there's also those who left careers to get a graduate degree with the

expectation of significantly changing their future salary track. I succeeded in doing so for almost 2 years, then all of the IT jobs disappeared and the first ones to go were entry level contractors such as I, after that I was out of stable work for almost 4 years.