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I noted this before and I will have to again I suppose. When I first started out we were going through this thing the economists were calling stagflation. Here, read up on it.
In the wake of the 1973 oil crisis and the 1979 energy crisis, , stagflation began to afflict the economy of the United States. , Unemployment had risen from 5.1% in January 1974 to a high of 9.0% in May 1975. , Although it had gradually declined to 5.6% by May 1979, , unemployment began rising again thereafter. , It jumped sharply to 6.9% in April 1980 and to 7.5% in May 1980. , A mild recession from January to July 1980 kept unemployment high, , but despite economic recovery unemployment remained at historically high levels (about 7.5%) through the end of 1981. , Inflation, , which had averaged 3.2% annually in the post-war period, , had more than doubled after the 1973 oil shock to a 7.7% annual rate. , Inflation reached 9.1% in 1975, , the highest rate since 1947. , Inflation declined to 5.8% the following year, , but then edged higher. , By 1979, , inflation reached a startling 11.3% and in 1980 soared to 13.5%.
Employment conditions deteriorated throughout the year. , The unemployment rate in the U.S. , reached 10.8% in December 1982 ”higher than at any time in post-war era. , Job cutbacks were particularly severe in housing, , steel and automobiles. , By September 1982, , the jobless rate reached 10.8%. , Twelve million people were unemployed, , an increase of 4.2 million people since July 1981. , Unemployment rates for every major group reached post-war highs, , with men age 20 and over particularly hard hit.
Interest rates were 12-20%. Gas had gone from around 60 cents to over a $1. Yes, a $1 sound cheap now but it certainly wasn't then.
Now tell me again how no one has experienced anything similar before.
It was during this time that my husband and I graduated college. I joined the reserves and substitute taught (teaching jobs were virtually impossible to find) to pay our living expenses while he went to law school on an ROTC scholarship. We didn't own a car and lived in a studio apartment that's best feature was that it was near a bus stop, and even continued living there after our first child was born. They were challenging times but I have amazingly fond memories of the time. The difference between us and the current kids, I still maintain, is that we didn't expect life to be fair, we didn't expect to live as well as our parents, and we felt that hard work gave us our best chance to one day be successful. Again, I blame my generation for not letting this generation learn that life isn't fair, sometimes you don't get what you want, and in most things there are winners and losers. Where we have really screwed up is that instead of teaching them that the key to being a winner is in yourself, that it isn't something handed to you, we have made "everyone is a winner" the mantra of their youth.
Curious op not one mention of trades
The driving force behind immigration
The main stay of boomer grandparents
All want an advanced gen Ed degree but most just need a trade
For y gen everything is too hard
If I had to choose a different field that is what I would do. Go to trade school and then move out to Australia.
Unemployment was high in the early 80s, but it wasn't as high as it has been these past five years.
Obviously your degree did not take hold. That may be your problem. People in the 80's didn't give up looking for work?
Do you not note another problem facing those in the time frame I note? The rate of males in the market has been falling pretty big with the rate of women going up because one job was no longer cutting it. Did all those men just move elsewhere or did some of them simply quit looking?
Did you bother to note the inflation rates at the time? How is 4% for a home loan worse than 10-12-18%?
Unemployment was high in the early 80s, but it wasn't as high as it has been these past five years. The biggest thing to remember is that the current unemployment rate doesn't include the millions of Americans who are simply no longer counted in the labor force because they have given up on searching for a job.
During the early 80s, the labor force participation rate continued to rise.
Today, it has fallen by more than 3%. If you add that 3% to what the unemployment rate has been over the past five years the 1980s recession would have NOTHING on the 2008 recession.
A higher percentage of women did not participate in the job market, they weren't counted in the numbers because they never participated. I'm not really sure if that matters or not. What I see as a problem now is that our "safety nets" are good enough these days that many have lost the incentive to rejoin.
Having lived through both times and been old enough to be remember, from what I saw people suffered worse then than now.
It was during this time that my husband and I graduated college. I joined the reserves and substitute taught (teaching jobs were virtually impossible to find) to pay our living expenses while he went to law school on an ROTC scholarship. We didn't own a car and lived in a studio apartment that's best feature was that it was near a bus stop, and even continued living there after our first child was born. They were challenging times but I have amazingly fond memories of the time. The difference between us and the current kids, I still maintain, is that we didn't expect life to be fair, we didn't expect to live as well as our parents, and we felt that hard work gave us our best chance to one day be successful. Again, I blame my generation for not letting this generation learn that life isn't fair, sometimes you don't get what you want, and in most things there are winners and losers. Where we have really screwed up is that instead of teaching them that the key to being a winner is in yourself, that it isn't something handed to you, we have made "everyone is a winner" the mantra of their youth.
Sure, I do not disagree that the trends of "there are no losers, only participants" have been a real mess. I'm not blaming younger folks for their problems, just noting that yes indeed, earlier generations faced the same hurdles.
Even as rough of a patch it was in the early 80's I still had it far far better than facing graduating High School and having the government send me to Germany or Viet Nam.
No, it is not hard to start for your generation. In fact, every single generation says that. You just have to do it. Quick talking about it or complaining about it, and go do it. As you sit there and complain, your life is flying by and you do not even realize it. Go do something - anything - just start.
Location: Just transplanted to FL from the N GA mountains
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Quote:
Originally Posted by InsaneTraveler
And the complaint that I have is that opportunities are not given to the millions of unemployed college graduates that are in America right now.
How many possible jobs are there for graduates of Women's studies? Seriously... the reason so many college graduates are unemployed is that there just aren't enough jobs for everyone right now. We're told every day by our government that there are not enough Americans trained in the sciences. Yet, ask a scientist and they'll tell you there is a glut of scientist's. PhD's who can't find any other job than a post-doc paying less than 50K per year.
And... how many of these unemployed college graduates are willing to take something "beneath" them? Try being 50, being laid-off without a college degree and try to get a job now. College graduates are given MORE of an opportunity then you believe. Why are they so special?
That is horrible logic. A good economy would have about 5% unemployment rate with true unemployment being a few points higher. Gen Y and millienials have a higher unemployment rate than the national average as well. So currently the government employment rate for those under 30 is still in the 11-12% range, people are working longer in life and the pyramid is shrinking above entry level positions.
What is wrong with people who really don't know how to do anything to start with an entry-level position? Going to college does not mean you actually know how to do anything. By the time the "entry level" employee becomes proficient at his or her job, there will have been openings in the pyramid above the entry level positions for them to advance into.
The problem with a lot of young people is that they expect to make $60,000 per year for their first job, when in fact, they need to be working at an entry level position so that they can learn what they are doing.
Would Gen-Y start out with a 10 year old used car ?
Would Gen-Y aspire to own a 40 year old 2 bedroom home in a solid working class community ?
I think Gen-Y has different aspirations and expectations for that "starting out" phase.
And when it doesn't just "happen" someone needs to be blamed.
Good G*d! My DD's boyfriend drives a 15 year old car. He is almost 30. He's not the only one. My son-in-law has car that is about 10 years old; he's 28. Neither of these people own a home anywhere yet. The ideas people have about young people make me as angry as the ideas people have about Boomers.
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