Youth Unemployment

[dcarrigg]

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/...y-spain/39262/

[Rajiv]

Re: Youth Unemployment

From the article linked above

I think, that much of this is an artifact of the way the numbers are calculated. Youth unemployment in 2009 in the US was a lot higher than the 19% posted in the article. The numbers between the US and Spain are not directly comparable.

From US youth unemployment soars

Even prior to the current economic crisis, today’s young adults were on average poorer and more in debt than their parents. Since the economic meltdown began in 2008, however, conditions facing young people have taken a sharp turn for the worse.

Teenage employment (16 to 19 years old) is officially 26.4 percent as of January, but the actual unemployment rate is much higher. More than half of young people aged 16-24—52.2 percent—do not have jobs, the highest since World War II. This includes those who are not looking for work, and are therefore not categorized as officially unemployed.

There was an article in the Business Insider - Forget 10% Unemployment, The Real Job Loss Pain Number Is 54%

A March survey from Pew shows just how broad the unemployment pain has been felt. When you hear of 10% unemployment, you might imagine 1/10th of Americans experiencing extreme financial stress from the recent recession.

Yet given the unemployment rate's odd methodology whereby it drops people who stop looking for work out of the data, and the fact that American households usually have more than one person, the real 'pain' number is 54% -- over half of American households felt the direct impact of job losses:

Pew Research:

A majority now says that someone in their household has been without a job or looking for work (54%); just 39% said this in February 2009. Only a quarter reports receiving a pay raise or a better job in the past year (24%), while almost an equal number say they have been laid off or lost a job (21%).



Basically, if your household didn't experience un- or under-employment, then you are in the minority. Moreover, as shown above, fully 70% of American households experienced one of the serious financial problems above. Basically, the vast majority of American households was hit extremely hard.

Of course the above survey does not account for the attitude -- "My brother-in-law has been on UI for over a year now -- but he is and always has been a total ***** (insert favorite expletive here)" ;)