Yes, we all know that unemployment figures are really high right now. And, that's given the fact that unemployment figures only account for those seeking work, and many young people are left out of that figure.
That doesn't mean young people stopped eating, or buying gas, or spending money. Just that making it is harder than ever. So what do we do to survive in an economy that is KILLING folks twice our age, with much more padding on their resumes?
One word: hustle.
[in more than one word: we can't afford health insurance,etc.. and we don't even know the meaning of the word 'savings']
Here's a little section of Herbert's column, a fine writer always, and an interesting column today:
A shudder went through the markets when the Labor Department reported that the official jobless rate had jumped one-half a percentage point in May to 5.5 percent — the sharpest spike in 22 years.
The young people I’m talking about wouldn’t have noticed. These are the teenagers and young adults — roughly 16 to 24 years old — who are not in school and basically have no hope of finding work. The bureaucrats compiling the official unemployment rate don’t even bother counting these young people. They are no one’s constituency. They might as well not exist.
Except that they do exist. There are four million or more of these so-called disconnected youths across the country. They hang out on street corners in cities large and small — and increasingly in suburban and rural areas.
If you ask how they survive from day to day, the most likely response is: "I hustle," which could mean anything from giving haircuts in a basement to washing a neighbor’s car to running the occasional errand.
Or it could mean petty thievery or drug dealing or prostitution or worse.
Of course, many here are familiar with numerous depressing facts about this Gilded Age economy that America is now suffering through, where the middle classes are taking a beating on all levels: rising gas, food, healthcare, and fewer jobs/government social spending/social safety nets. Like many others here, I read Jerome a Paris' diaries with great interest, as they are wonderfully informative and full of helpful analysis...like this:
One of the more interesting things about yesterday's economic news was the very obvious connexion between the unemployment number and oil prices. What links the two is debt, the defining feature of what I have called the Anglo Disease, ie the highly unequal economy whereby the rich and the financial sector (almost the same thing these days) capture most of the income but hide it by providing cheap debt to the middle classes so that they can continue to spend.
So try to imagine what it's like for a 20-24 year old, without a college degree, without the means to even afford it in a time of cutbacks in community college spending, and so on. Many on this site probably have kids who graduated from college this past couple of years and struggled in a weakened job market. The effects don't trickle down to the lower classes, however. It is more like a snowball effect.
And trust me, I know the hustle. And that is why this article stands out to me...for its brutal honesty about an issue most Americans would rather ignore, albeit guiltily.