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Old 06-25-2014, 01:03 PM
 
7,846 posts, read 6,384,784 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TRlaura View Post
I am of Gen-Y and know many age group that are doing just fine. We work, have little debt, contribute to our 401Ks and Roths, and pay our taxes.

The ones that are whining are those that rang up a ton of student debt because they were too lazy to work during college and breaks, and then compounded their destiny for failure by tattoing themselves into jobless oblivion.
Speak for yourself.

I know plenty of hard working Gen-Y folks from modest means that have debt because they grow up in low to middle class families. They aren't lazy. I knew a gentlemen in my class who never drove a car because he grew up in the inner city. He made it to college, graduated an engineer with >3.0 GPA, and had trouble finding a job. I suppose he was just freakin' lazy.
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Old 06-25-2014, 01:14 PM
 
Location: West Orange, NJ
12,546 posts, read 21,360,397 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Costaexpress View Post
You know what's really a scary time? 20 years from today.

Boomers will have phased into history for the most part, using up most of the money their generation accumulated. The many millennials, middle aged and above, will have little saved for their retirement, no competitive job experience, still paying for their student loans and mortgage if they have one that is, and have been pinching pennies all this time to save for their kids college. There is no more inheritance, not even much jewelry or furniture. Many millennials will be back to their parents house.

It's 2034. The United States is now the second largest economy, after china. Years of recession has completely transformed America. Except for some large urban centers, most places have been quiet and unchanged for decades. Population dwindled. Alcoholism spreads. Struggles have not been effective, though the poor did win a lot of welfare over the years. China, India, and Brazil have become much more powerful. Many jobs opportunities are there, so are highly talented people.
It must really stink to live such a pessimistic life. China the first largest economy? Well, with well over 1 billion people vs. our 315 million people, I should hope that they would be that. Problem is, they won't even come close to us for GDP per capita. And so what if China, India, and Brazil become much more powerful? Those people in the places that are quiet and unchanged for decades can move, can't they? I grew up in an area that has scarce job opportunities. Most people knew they would finish high school, go to college, and never return. That's life. If you want to stay in one place forever, you're going to be left behind.
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Old 06-25-2014, 01:16 PM
 
Location: West Orange, NJ
12,546 posts, read 21,360,397 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikelee81 View Post
Concerning the bold, easier said then done. I just left a position as Food Service Director at a Nursing Home making a whole whopping 32 thousand a year. I barely could pay my bills alone let alone support a family. This is for a department head position which requires 365 day/24 hour/availability. The nursing homes have been cutting back on labor costs with the economy. This department had at one time a full-time RD and a full-time assistant director. They've cut the assistant director position and have only a per-diem, contract based Dietitian. More and more is getting put on salaried positions. This position has now seen 14 different directors in 9 years. That's part of the reason why I left. I certainly din't feel comfortable purchasing a house and settling down to support a family. From what I've noticed, the turnover rate is incredible at the administration level with pretty much all department head positions. It's the corporate culture of the places. Move up the ladder, and the turnover continues. To them everyone is easily replaceable. It doesn't matter what type of success you've had in the past. They might just cut you to save on costs alone. I just read a story like that actually. Quality, safety, and care are buzz words thrown around. It's a good thing those places have regulations to keep them in check. Just get a warm body, throw some money at them, watch them run, and if they fail to "manage time effectively" due to the demands, replace them.

For the better part of my 20s, I've been working to "build a career and find better opportunities". I'm currently 33 years old. I spent around two years part-time working post baccalaureate to get prereqs to enter PT school. With looming changes with Obamacare, decreasing Medicare reimbursement, increasing schooling costs, I put the brakes on that endeavor. 150k in student loans for a certificate/degree that offers in some places 55k starting out in the face of decreasing reimbursement is not a wise move. I've been looking at getting back into school for nursing (currently have an AS in business administration and a BS in nutrition science). While nursing might still be a good occupation, not everyone can be nurses.

So the assumption that people are not working is not valid.
Physical Therapy is a fantastic field to go into right now. Not sure why you would put the breaks on that.
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Old 06-25-2014, 01:23 PM
 
Location: West Orange, NJ
12,546 posts, read 21,360,397 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Emigrations View Post
Many will, but I think there is going to be a segment of these people who are going to remain behind. I graduated in 2010 and had to take whatever job I could get because times were tough. I spent the next year learning my job and applying for other work. Before I knew it, I had been at the job for two years, and was way off course professionally. I was stuck in a call center with few transferable skills. Since I was no longer a new grad, I couldn't get into that pool, and was stuck in the general applicant pool, but without the seniority or skills.

I did eventually get a professional job...after nearly four years. Since 2010 I've worked and lived in four different states (IA, IN, TN, VA, MA). A lot of the folks I graduated high school and college with are still stuck, and the longer you are stuck, the harder it is to get back on track.
and your story is precisely why i think the Gen-Y generation will turn out just fine. You graduated at one of the most awful times you could have. You were willing to take A job, and continue looking. you were willing to relocate, something prior generations really don't accept as easily as ours does. the people who are still stuck will have a hard time, but they may be somewhat content being stuck - i know people like that. if their situation was different and they graduated in a booming time, they may have been better off because of circumstance, but they really don't care. the ones who care will do what you did - relocate, apply for more jobs, etc.

the biggest concern for me is Gen-Y has a lower propensity to save for retirement. Without the access to pensions prior generations have had, our generation cannot afford to delay saving for retirement. There is an irrational fear of the markets because of what we witnessed in 2007/08/09. that has to change, or we have a major problem starting in about 30-35 years.
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Old 06-25-2014, 01:24 PM
 
Location: West Orange, NJ
12,546 posts, read 21,360,397 times
Reputation: 3730
Quote:
Originally Posted by Opin_Yunated View Post
Speak for yourself.

I know plenty of hard working Gen-Y folks from modest means that have debt because they grow up in low to middle class families. They aren't lazy. I knew a gentlemen in my class who never drove a car because he grew up in the inner city. He made it to college, graduated an engineer with >3.0 GPA, and had trouble finding a job. I suppose he was just freakin' lazy.
what type of engineer? i don't know too many engineering grads that are struggling to get hired. (and i'm not saying he's lazy - i'm just curious).
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Old 06-25-2014, 03:00 PM
 
249 posts, read 329,079 times
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What pisses me off is that it seems the millennials is being blamed for the slow economic recovery. All you hear on the news is that millenials aren't buying houses and cars, they are living with parents and using bicycles/public transportation, therefore our economy is still in recession. I just think wow! After all that we being through with the shafted student loans, shafted job opportunity, shafted economy, we are being blamed for not spending money that we don't have to buy things and slow down the recovery.... incredible! What about those 1% billionaires sitting with 50% cash and 50% investments who already have everything and only spend money to get more money and hoard it. Why not blame them for not spending money that they actually have to stimulate the economy??
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Old 06-25-2014, 03:10 PM
 
4,534 posts, read 4,916,137 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bradykp View Post
curious - what's the industry that died off, and how are none of your skills transferable to other jobs? what was your undergaduate degree?
Trained in chemistry and mathematics, had a decent career (for the short while it lasted) doing medicinal chemistry in the pharmaceutical industry until pharma got slammed and off shored much of their R and D. After getting laid off in 2009 during the height of the recession I took whatever scientific job I could land, which ended up being terrible job with no hope of advancing while I simultaneously took a $15k pay cut--and that's with 5 years professional experience. Chemistry and pharma led to a dead end of chronic unemployment and increasingly low pay since all the jobs are now being shipped overseas. I ended up having to go back to grad school and am now earning a PhD in engineering (one way to get another degree for free without more student loan debt) and am trying to learn more programming skills on the side. In summary, I'm almost 10 years out from undergrad and


-still have student loans
-went through long periods of chronic un/underemployment with low pay
-do not yet own a home or have anywhere near enough saved since I had to go back to school and retrain which takes years
-have little saved for retirement


I did what I was supposed to do. I got excellent grades in college. I didn't major in some "worthless degree" and majored in 2 STEM fields. The only thing I found were increasingly grim prospects within pharma/biotech as jobs are being more and more off shored. Almost 10 years later, I now make $30k less on a grad school stipend than I made straight out of college from undergrad before my job disappeared.

Last edited by fibonacci; 06-25-2014 at 03:37 PM..
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Old 06-25-2014, 03:12 PM
 
249 posts, read 329,079 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tall Traveler View Post
The rich fled and then they lost jobs.

Regarding income inequality, Communism is the fix. You can live this wonderful paradise life of Karl Marx and Kim Jung Un or live in an unequal country that sux like the USA. You make the USA like your paradise and the result is the same...just see how the Soviet Union did, China under Mao...
This is not the age what comes first chicken or egg question. Globalization happened, jobs disappeared, business close down, decay happens and then the rich leaves. Definitely not the other way around.

Things aren't as black and white as you like to think. Its not like religion where you believe in god you go to heaven and if you don't you go to hell. Its not like you can only have communism or capitalism. China right now in some ways are much more capitalistic than we are but their government is communism. I believe we can still be a capitalistic country while trying to be more fair in equal opportunity.
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Old 06-25-2014, 03:22 PM
 
19,469 posts, read 12,103,646 times
Reputation: 26219
Quote:
Originally Posted by aznkobee View Post
What pisses me off is that it seems the millennials is being blamed for the slow economic recovery. All you hear on the news is that millenials aren't buying houses and cars, they are living with parents and using bicycles/public transportation, therefore our economy is still in recession. I just think wow! After all that we being through with the shafted student loans, shafted job opportunity, shafted economy, we are being blamed for not spending money that we don't have to buy things and slow down the recovery.... incredible! What about those 1% billionaires sitting with 50% cash and 50% investments who already have everything and only spend money to get more money and hoard it. Why not blame them for not spending money that they actually have to stimulate the economy??
It's not that the millennials are not doing those things, obviously many of them can't right now. It's that they don't want to, ever, and mock people who do want to succeed and have a nice house or car. It's like it's taboo or something to ever want to move up economically and ever spend on anything except travel. There are a lot of young people romanticizing being poor, as if it makes you a better person. It doesn't, I know this.
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Old 06-25-2014, 03:30 PM
 
Location: moved
13,593 posts, read 9,632,557 times
Reputation: 23363
My perspective, as a Gen-X person:

1. The inexorable consequence of globalization is neither mass-poverty nor a glorious new world where robots perform all of the menial tasks. Instead, it is a breakdown of the "islands" of prosperity. For most of the 20th century, the US was such an island: lots of people earning a great paycheck for fairly rudimentary and low-skill work that's easy to commoditize. With the breakdown of these islands, there will be a race - not to the bottom, but to the median. By this I mean convergence of wages and prices amongst all nations which are stable politically and have open markets. This convergence will restore the relative uniformity worldwide before the Industrial Revolution. But it's a trend that will take far longer than just 1-2 generations.

2. The great labor-problem that I see isn't lazy/uneducated millennials, but a generational domino effect, where elderly workers are unable or unwilling to retire. Population growth and economic growth are faster than growth in the labor market. This does not make the labor market entirely zero-sum, but to an extent, a 20-year-old can't be offered a position until the 70-year-old currently occupying that position retires. In my workplace, I see lots of 55-year-olds frustrated with lack of promotion opportunities because the generation senior to them remains obdurately in the workplace. Those elders may have excellent reason to remain working; we should not begrudge them their position. But even so, a workplace with more generational churning would offer more opportunities for younger generations to move up - or to get hired in the first place.

3. Demographically, we have a looming imbalance between workers (mostly young adults and middle-aged adults) and non-workers (mostly the elderly). Something has to give. Either taxes go up, or benefits are cut, or there's a huge influx of new immigrants of working-age. None of those options is politically viable.

4. As others have said, the real problem facing millennials isn't low-pay or even debilitating student loan debt, though these are contributing factors. The real problem is insufficient means (either physical or psychological) for investing and building their net-worth. This further hampers the retirement crisis. If Baby Boomers muddle their way through retirement by working well into their 70s and spending down their assets, what will Gen X and Y do?

5. Question: if we're all spending our money on student loans, or health care, or whatever else - instead of saving for retirement - well, where does that money go?
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