Millenials casually confront tough job market from the comfort of their parents’ living room.
Finding a job out of college is difficult in a recession; it’s even tougher when you’re raised by “baby boomers who lavish a lot of attention on their children.”
Just ask Scott Nicholson, recently profiled in the New York Times. Scott is two years out of college and still jobless, with parents whose “attention is directed mainly at sustaining the confidence of their middle son.”
For those still in school, it might be a good idea to consider taking a gap year, or taking an extra year to complete that double major. Here are some stats to consider:
—There’s currently a 14% unemployment rate for those between 18 and 29—the highest since the Great Depression,
—17% of college-educated young adults between 18 and 29 are either without work, or aren’t looking for work
—The unemployment rate for college-educated young adults is at its highest since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began keeping records.
—Those entering the workforce during a recession are more likely to “stay with the jobs they have rather than jump to better paying but less secure ones.”
—And the pay disparity lingers even years later. Lisa Kahn, an economist at Yale, found that “those who graduated from college during the severe early ’80s recession earned up to 30 percent less in their first three years than new graduates who landed their first jobs in a strong economy. Even 15 year s later, their annual pay was 8 to 10 percent less.”
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“The Millennials” are in a bind, and Nicholson represents the aimless drift of the 21st Century college graduate. He’s already turned down a $40,000/year job offer. He had considered joining the Marines, but upon experiencing a setback, decided against it. And there’s been talk of going to Europe (according to his 92 year-old Grandfather, “Europe has surpassed America in offering opportunity for an ambitious young man”).
Scott has vague notions of what he actually wants to do—as he explains to the Times, his goal is to find “any career-oriented opening at a big corporation.”
Still, Scott remains confident, proclaiming, “I am absolutely certain that my job hunt will eventually pay off.”
There are two angles one can take in explaining Scott’s outlook. On the one hand, Scott could be working hard every day, knowing that if he’s giving it his all in his quest to find something that he loves to do, good things are bound to happen. Or, he could just be sitting around, doing nothing, but having a “positive outlook”—what, in reality, is an expression of entitlement where he expects opportunities to fall on his lap.
But there may just be something admirable about Scott. He’s willing to sacrifice independence and live within the confines of his parents’ home, all in order to ensure he finds a job that falls in line with his personal goals. After all, who in their early twenties would want to live with their parents for two years in a small, sleepy town in Central Massachusetts? That’s living the suburban nightmare at the least desirable time in one’s life.
The intro to the article alone sent shivers down my spine:
After breakfast, his parents left for their jobs, and Scott Nicholson, alone in the house in this comfortable suburb west of Boston, went to his laptop in the living room. He had placed it on a small table that his mother had used for a vase of flowers…
I don’t know about Scott, but I’d be ready to gouge my eyeballs out after one week of being along in an empty, white Colonial, sitting in a living room smelling faintly of Windex and lemon polish, with the TV droning in the background.
But then came the zinger at the end of the article; apparently, his parents are doing their best to deter any urgency to find a job. Just last month, they allowed Scott to leave their home for Boston in order to move into an apartment with his older brother—all while footing his share of the $2,000/month rent.
Okay, now we can hate the kid.
—Nick Lehr