USA and a lost generation

Is the USA really heading for some kind of lost generation like what the Japanese are going through or is it just the Far Right in America just hyperboling?

Not unless all the young people have died. You want a real "lost generation" look at Europe after WW 1

The youth of today are only lost under crippling student loan debt whose net purpose has by and large been to make sure that no one is qualified to even work in food service. THAT'S the lost generation of the USA.

Link to this please? this is the first time I've heard of anyone saying this.

Also, Tomu's right. I think that this generation is more likely to be considered buried in debt rather than "the Lost" like after WW 1 and 2.

Well, there isn't a source on it per se. Just something I've heard being said by my GOP friends.

I'd also like to hear who's claiming that. "Lost Decade" maybe, but a "lost generation" pretty much requires a WWI-level massacre.

I guess if there's a huge swath of the unemployed that end up committing suicide it's possible?

But if your GOP friends are really so concerned about that, tell them to support the social safety net.

I was going to title it "Lost Decade" but the Japanese have been suffering since the 1980's?

Oh you, surely thats ironic?

I'm not sure what your Movement Conservative friends mean by it, but I've seen progressive commentators on a few occasions point out higher unemployment for youth and lower starting wages and how it'll result in lower wages for these people in the long term.

But I've never heard the term used by Movement Conservatives, who are of course, fully in favor of this effect.

This article explains what the "Lost Generation" in Japan refers to.

"There's an entire generation of people in their late 20s and early 30s who came of age during Japan's so-called lost decade, a stretch of economic stagnation that started to ease in 2003. Through that period, with Japanese companies in retrenchment mode, young people faced what came to be known as a "hiring ice age." Many settled for odd jobs or part-time work to make ends meet but hoped eventually to find their way into regular employment with the stars of corporate Japan. Instead, they're being passed over in favor of new graduates..."

Whale, I've not just heard fears of a "Lost Decade" or a "Lost Generation" in the USA — I've heard fears of that in Britain, too (As You Know).

edited 29th Aug '11 1:31:30 PM by Greenmantle

Hmmm... yeah, I can see that happening in the US.

Yeah, I heard that too, damm scary stuff

Also, sorry for being vague in the op and title.

And I'm right in the Middle of it, and I know it...

It is scary, and it is not impossible after all, since Businesses would be more likely to use more recent Graduates becuase their specialist knowledge is more up to date, and they are younger after all (In other words, Age Discrimination at the small-scale — 22 over 25-year olds)...

And I am not?

Also I think the title should be renamed to something else because its obvious that this won't just affect the USA.

I'm going back to school because my Liberal Arts degree is crap. Trying to get something in business.

If I still can't get a serious job after that, I may pursue a Ph D and try and go for a doctorate so I can teach in schools. If that fails, well, I'll have a huge student loan debt burden, but as long as I die before I have to pay it off, no harm no foul, amirite?

Perverse incentives at work.

I could see that happening, with crime rates rising once again.

And this is why I have started applying for a lot of places all at once

Which, naturally, increases the supply of job seekers for any given position, thus expanding the bargaining power of job providers, widening an already growing asymmetry, resulting in overall stagnant or lower wages, even in the face of rising productivity.

To be fair, this is more true for unskilled labor than skilled labor, but it's creeping out to all elements of the job market.

edited 29th Aug '11 1:47:25 PM by TheyCallMeTomu

@ Whale: I agree with you there. Totally.

@ Thatguy47: With University-educated criminals, to boot.

Especially if the skilled labour can't find jobs in their Sector, they're going to try the unskilled jobs just to get some form of work.

edited 29th Aug '11 1:48:43 PM by Greenmantle

I can see that happening. Easily. Only reason I got the job I have is that my Dad and my boss's dad play craps together. Before that it was two years of applications and the occasional rejection letter.

Psst. Is there another opening? <_<

Might be if you know how to work large-format digital printers.

QQ

Sometimes I think people always think the future is doomed when we are living in less than awesome times.

I mean its only natural, I'd like to think.

We survived the cold war, didn't we?

When our economy rebounds things will look better. /optimism

edited 29th Aug '11 2:59:17 PM by Thorn14