Generation Limbo: Young 20-something graduates waiting for real careers to begin

[LongTomH]

There's a scary article in the NY Times: Recent College Graduates Wait for Their Real Careers to Begin. The writer, Jennifer Lee, profiles several young, recent grads working way below their levels.

And so they wait: for the economy to turn, for good jobs to materialize, for their lucky break. Some do so bitterly, frustrated that their well-mapped careers have gone astray. Others do so anxiously, wondering how they are going to pay their rent, their school loans, their living expenses — sometimes resorting to once-unthinkable government handouts.

“We did everything we were supposed to,” said Stephanie Morales, 23, who graduated from Dartmouth College in 2009 with hopes of working in the arts. Instead she ended up waiting tables at a Chart House restaurant in Weehawken, N.J., earning $2.17 an hour plus tips, to pay off her student loans. “What was the point of working so hard for 22 years if there was nothing out there?” said Ms. Morales, who is now a paralegal and plans on attending law school.

Some of Ms. Morales’s classmates have found themselves on welfare. “You don’t expect someone who just spent four years in Ivy League schools to be on food stamps,” said Ms. Morales, who estimates that a half-dozen of her friends are on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. A few are even helping younger graduates figure out how to apply. “We are passing on these traditions on how to work in the adult world as working poor,” Ms. Morales said.

The young lady interviewed contrasted her situation with her older sister who was able to find a well-paying job shortly after graduation.

By comparison, Ms. Klein said her classmates seemed resigned to waiting for the economic tides to turn. “Plenty of people work in bookstores and work in low-end administrative jobs, even though they have a Harvard degree,” she said. “They are thinking more in terms of creating their own kinds of life that interests them, rather than following a conventional idea of success and job security.”

Jennifer Lee relates some dismal statistics: 14% of young people who graduated from college between 2006 and 2010 are unemployed or working part-time. Quite a few more are working 'below their level' at call centers, or working as bartenders, waitresses or retail workers.

Actually, I can relate. I graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1972, during the Nixon recession. I starved for a few years.

More here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/01/fashion/recent-college-graduates-wait-for-their-real-careers-to-begin.html?pagewanted=all&src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB

[Orrex]

1. I know quite a few 30- and 40-somethings who've been waiting for decades

These 20-somethings had better make themselves comfortable and hunker down for the long haul.

[ixion]

2. No doubt. It's gonna be a wait.

I don't see this mess getting sorted out any time soon, and I think it's going to get worse before it starts to get better.

[Merlot]

3. They need to stop "waiting" and start making alternative plans

This is life, it's not an interlude to some great thing. The 50's and the 90's (two eras of prosperity) were aberrations.

Graduates when through this in the early 80's as well...

[ellisonz]

4. Legalize marijuana.

This one reform alone would produce jobs, end the violent drug war, and balance budgets nationwide.

[Shagbark Hickory]

5. Yeah but it would put so many people out of a job. All the border pat, cops, drug searching equipmen

makers etc etc.

[Selatius]

6. Well, the fact is the douchebags on Wall Street wrecked the economy.

No, they do NOT want to pay you a living wage because you got a degree from Harvard or Dartmouth. If they could, they'd fucking ship your job to China or some other third world dictatorship hellhole where workers are treated slightly better than slaves.

[Name removed]

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[joeglow3]

8. This highlights the importance of career selection

The degrees cited in this article (arts, generic business administration, marketing & english) have not been strong fields for a LOOONG time. Of the friends with college degrees that are employed they are:

physical therapist
perfusionist
registered nurse
food scientist
certified public accountant
dentist
dental hygienist
elementary education
actuary
architecture

Of the unemployed friends with college degrees:

History
English
Art History
Sociology

Now, I am not saying all these degrees add value. However, when looking at employment opportunities, one NEEDS to be cognizant of what the market demands are. Of the list above, I am the CPA and my wife is the RN. Fields we both selected because we had some interest and knew there would be HUGE demand for decades to come. I personally loved psychology, but did not choose it because my odds were much higher of struggling. I, in turn, will encourage my 3 boys to balance what they enjoy with what is in demand. I am not advocating setting yourself up to work 40 years in a field you HATE. Rather, find something you enjoy (just not as much as other things) and run with that. I think most people would find the dramatically reduced stress levels form more secure employment opportunities offsets the less enjoyment from a field that may likely leave you unemployed.

[hifiguy]

9. I would strongly advise that young woman NOT

to go to law school. It is VERY expensive and the market for attorneys, unless you graduate from a top ten or twenty school is bleak indeed. She will only be digging herself a much deeper hole.

[Marrah_G]

10. I think alot of kids come out of college without any real life skills

It's a shame. They can take classes on a ton of random stuff but what about classes to help prepare them for surviving in the real world. Classes on how to find jobs, write resumes, network......... or even something as simple as how to create a budget. I know alot of kids who's parent do EVERYTHING for them and then wonder why their 26 year old is sitting in the basement smoking pot and playing PS3 while the college debt builds and builds. I think some of these kids would have been far better served learning a skilled trade.