Parables are a little too neat for real life.
A few days ago I found myself part of a living sign that somewhere in the engine room of the American economy something might be broken.
We took a drive in Los Angeles out past Pasadena and into Altadena for a hike and a barbecue with friends. The walk was curtailed by the tardiness of our arrival, but it was lovely to get up into the hills and gain perspective on the hazy expanse of the city. The barbecue was pleasant too, though my struggles with portion control, turning down a second helping, and stopping myself from eating cookies if cookies are there, all meant I went home too full in the belly.
But what happened was this: nine people were in attendance. There were three married couples, including me and my wife, all of whom were living rent-free with their parents or, in our case, close family. Only three of the nine people around the dinner table were employed: one of the three very recently got a job after sending in 53 job applications, and one was soon to be unemployed. The most gainfully and satisfactorily employed person was a New Zealander, working remotely in Los Angeles for his Auckland-based employer. Every person had completed a university education. Six people had a master's degree. Most had graduated relatively recently. This was not a table of slouches.
A few Failure to Launch jokes were made, but I object on principle to anything that compares my own situation with a bad Matthew McConaughey romantic-comedy. I posited to the crowd that maybe past a certain point, when you've left home for long enough and made your way in the world, and your parents are themselves dealing with empty nests, moving home is more of a joy for your parents than an anxiety-riddled imposition. I think my parents would be delighted to have me home... for a while, at least.
Following the global financial crisis, the phenomenon of the Boomerang Generation in the US has been extensively, some may even say excessively, documented. There was a widely quoted statistic that 85 per cent of university graduates were returning home to live, which has been debunked. A Pew Research survey estimates this figure to be no higher than 40 per cent, which is still high. The "Boomerang" narrative is one of the prevailing stories about young people in America: it's a source of human-interest coverage about parents and children coexisting, been posited as a handbrake on economic growth and been used as further evidence that Barack Obama has damned this country to doom and mediocrity.
The US unemployment rate sits at 8.2 per cent, well down from the 10 per cent peak of October 2009. The unemployment rate for people aged between 25 and 34 is exactly the same as the national average.
Our group of nine should supposedly be in better stead than the average. The American unemployment rate for someone with a bachelor's degree or higher is 4.1 per cent, but at 76 per cent there's a much higher labour force participation rate among those with this level of education. So while our group may have been atypical in that sense, educated grads face stiffer competition. For recent graduates reentering the job market and looking to put new skills to work, they're battling against a situation where the average length of unemployment has grown since 2005 in America to almost 40 weeks. And then when you factor in that many around the table the other night were hoping to work in slightly slumping industries (journalism, film, etc) this small sample of people seemed strangely in sync with the greater American situation.
It's an odd set of chemistries, this American economy, and it needs to be stated clearly that to be able to wait out a lull in employment in rent-free comfort makes everyone involved lucky to an extreme degree. Something feels off in this country, which is supposedly sailing toward safe waters but is beset with signs that seem to indicate otherwise: slumping house prices, paradigm shifts in consumer spending, jobless recoveries, and an average age of home ownership that has risen from 23 to 35 in the past half-century.
It kind of snaps my mind in half, trying to assess the human impact of the struggles facing the economy: everything you read seems panicked and stressed about irreversible decline but yet people still get up the next day and look to be smiling.
For this little bubble the other night, there was little immediate danger, but the feeling still of taking shelter and waiting for things to improve because what goes down, must come back up, we are told. I guess though, after a while I can't help but stop and ask, "Will it? You promise?"
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Getting a post graduate degree that does not lead to a job is not very smart.
Moving in with your parents is something to be applauded and encouraged. It's very rational and much healthier than taking out loans for houses and degrees that don't return on the investment.
Having a bachelor's degree doesn't mean anything any more, except that you've probably already accrued reasonable loan debt. I was in the middle of an "academic" PhD (I was an English lit major) – having already acquired bachelor's and master's degrees – when I realized my chances of getting a tenure-track job were slim in my chosen field. Friends who went on to complete their PhDs feel extremely lucky to be working at community colleges.
Luckily, I ditched the PhD and got a(nother) master's degree in something more practical. I've been employed ever since but keep waiting for the penny to drop for some reason, since it's still a "soft" skill.
When I have friends who say their kids are heading to uni to major in philosophy, psychology, or film studies, I just shake my head. I don't think that privilege to follow your interests, rather than seeking the practical, exists any more...
Good post - it's a problem that, as a parent of teenagers who will be heading into the labour market in the next few years, I have started thinking about a lot. The reality is that the notion of "career" and "job" has been revolutionised over the past 15 years. The idea that you get a job at entry level with a big company and stay there, working your way up, for 20 or 40 years, has died. Making a living these days depends on being willing to grab work where you can find it - on projects, as a freelancer or by starting your own thing (by yourself or clubbing together with others). It's scary, but offers so much more potential for a fulfilling work career than sitting in Dilbert's cubicle wishing your 40 hour week away. My observation is that the people who succeed will have both a specialisation (in your case writing) that they can adapt to meet the needs of different situations (writing a blog, a novel, a technical manual or copy for advertising). You are pioneers!
I often wonder why people dont take the time to look at how many jobs are available before they begin their studies. Surely focussing on studies in fields where work is available is common sense?
As for kids coming back home to live rent free whilst they look for their perfect job at perfect wages.......yikes. I sure hope that doesnt happen with my kids. After 20 years+ of child raising I am keen as mustard to see the back of all of them for at least 2 decades
Not looking good on the "return to normal" front if you ask me. An economic model that depends on exponential growth and therefore an exponential growth in the use of resources seems doomed on a limited planet. Oil production peaked around 2006 meaning, while there is plenty of oil left, the remainder will become increasingly more difficult, risky and expensive to extract. Expect a "sawtooth" sequence of weak recoveries and recessions as, when the economy improves, oil prices spike leading to a drop-off in demand. And that is the good news. The bad news is that if all that extra oil (& coal) is converted to C02 we will probably make the planet uninhabitable, at least to advanced civilizations. I hope the US has enjoyed it's run, probably all downhill from here. How's the weather over there?
I've lived in LA (Pasadena, Lakewood, Chino Hills) and worked as an independent contractor at several different cities (Downtown, San Fernando, Anaheim, Pasadena, San Gabriel, Rancho Cucamonga...) and I felt the impact of the economy slowing down through my skin! It's almost depressing to drive around some of the cities in the Inland Empire, San Gabriel Valley and Coastal Cities. You can goto HGTV.com and look for House Hunters in San Diego, L.A. There are so many foreclosures and unemployed folks. Almost every high school grads had no summer jobs. You see so many "For Lease" signs hanging around empty stores in shopping malls and I've witnessed national chain grocery stores shutting down. Sure, there are hopeful people waking up positive and smiling... but like they say, the party's over when the money runs out. The only REAL happy people I've met in L.A were the TOURISTS in Santa Monica, Disney Land and Hollywood... if you start living and actually working in L.A., you'd realize that all LA has to offer is long commute, smog, TAX, and high living cost!!
Getting started in the creative industries, such as journalism and film, has always been hard, as there are always so many more applicants than jobs, and when you've got little experience it's usually a case of 'who you know', or getting in via unpaid work experience. It was like that when I graduated from journalism school - 10 years' ago - and, as you'll know, the industry has significantly declined since then (I would say more than 'slightly slumped' - the internet has had a huge affect on print, in particular).
Add in the fact that you're in LA - which is probably where all the cool creative kids head to - and I think your friends are lucky to be able to live with their parents until they get their big break.
I understand what you're saying - and yes I'm know the US faces significant economic challenges, as does New Zealand - but while I've always found it competitive to get jobs in journalism (even with a solid work history), my web developer husband has his pick of well-paid jobs, and my friends in the financial services industry, and healthcare etc, have had no problem finding work.
Getting back to that bit about beggers the other day.
My wife and I were heading towards a church in Denver one Sunday, and noticed a cop 'on duty' outside. We chatted for a short while, and turned out he was there to protect the congregation from beggers after Mass. Then two wierd things happened... as the good folks were coming out from Mass, quite a few of them fed what looked like a parking meter (turns out that that money goes to the poor, via a soup kitchen or something. Next was a very polite man that asked if we had a credit card. We did not answer, but went on to say that he would like for us to take him to a Chinese Restaurant and buy him a meal....
well, that was different!
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You might be interested in this doco James. I think it might be your kinda thing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-Z-BsTa8A4