This is disturbing.

 

Research from the Atlanta Federal Reserve shows how the proportion of young people ages 16 to 24 in the work force has collapsed.

 

If this was simply a phenomenon of the recent crisis, then perhaps it wouldn't be too surprising given the paucity of jobs these days. But there's more to it: Ever since 2000, fewer and fewer young people have been working.

 

See for yourself; even between recessions the green line below has been falling:

 

Federal Reserve of Atlanta: Moreover, the most recent recession has seen youth participation rates decline at a rate similar to that seen in the early 2000s. In contrast, the labor force participation by individuals over 24 years of age has varied much less, implying that the decline in youth labor force participation has been a major contributor to the reduction in the overall rate of labor force participation (see the above chart).

 

It also appears that the decline in youth participation is most dramatic among teenagers, and for that group it is an equally sized decline for both males and females (see the next two charts).

 

So, first of all, as stated above, the decline in labor participation from America's young accounts for the majority of the decline in overall labor market participation. So it's not that older workers are dropping out of the rat race, it's that the younger people are.

 

The Economist's Free Exchange thinks this could be partly a good thing -- falling labor market participation is a function of more young people focusing on education. Maybe, but at the same time it might just be that, for some reason, they find less reason to work, or have less "fire in the belly."

 

Free Exchange: That makes the decline seem a little less troubling. At least those not able to find work in the labour market are actively investing in human capital. But this also suggests that young people are developing far less work experience in early adulthood than did previous generations—a factor which could make it more difficult for them to find work when they finally leave school, and which may influence things like levels of student indebtedness in the meantime.

I thought I was the only one my age fighting the system :(

This sucks majorly. I have been applying to jobs all over town constantly for 2 years, and the closest I got was a couple interviews. But when you and dozens of others are interviewing for one spot, it's damn hard to be that one. I'm trying to get more money so I can afford college but there just isn't any work available for an inexperienced 17 year old.

This sucks majorly. I have been applying to jobs all over town constantly for 2 years, and the closest I got was a couple interviews. But when you and dozens of others are interviewing for one spot, it's damn hard to be that one. I'm trying to get more money so I can afford college but there just isn't any work available for an inexperienced 17 year old.

 

Youth unemployment is at its highest in 60 years.

FML

It's all those robots that wash the cars, serve the food, and clean the dishes now!! All the youth jobs are drying up, and are being taken over by androids, robots, and unemployed Albanians.:P

Interesting that the line starts to fall off the cliff in 2000. That's when the people who were born in '82 graduated. Many consider that to be the point where gen y/millenials/echo boomers started and gen X ended. (Based on personal experience I'd agree with that. I was born in '82 and I have more in common with someone 10 years younger than me than someone 2 years older. There's a big generation gap forming.)

 

So basically, you have spoiled baby boomer kids who were brought up with hippie ideas of making your life matter for more than your job floating around. Their parents were often wealthy so they can still crash at home. They're highly educated so finding employment has become a bit of an arms race- now a master's degree will get you what a high school diploma once did because everyone has them. So lots of time in school. And why bother work in an entry level position when you're now so overqualified?

 

Now dump them into the life-sucking go go go corporate culture that has developed over the last few decades which they definitely were not trained to survive, and throw a recession that is targeting the young in on top of it.

 

Total lack of motivation or options for the motivated. Perfect storm.

Space Cadet, before you denigrate an entire generation why don't you learn some economics.

 

The entry-level jobs these people normally take don't exist anymore because they are at the low-end of marginal utility. Meaning a 17 year old working the counter at a diner used to make a $100 profit per-month for his employer, so he was a profitable addition to the business.

 

But today, higher payroll and corporate taxes mean only those employees who can make a greater than $300 profit per-month for their employer keep their jobs. All the workers who were only marginally-profitable (less than $300 per month) are losing their jobs. These were positions like late-shift workers, janitors, motel managers, gas station attendants, etc.

 

Basically the government has raised the bar for acceptable employee profitability (marginal utility), and young people can't jump it anymore.

double post

Space Cadet, before you denigrate an entire generation why don't you learn some economics.

 

The entry-level jobs these people normally take don't exist anymore because they are at the low-end of marginal utility. Meaning a 17 year old working the counter at a diner used to make a $100 profit per-month for his employer, so he was a profitable addition to the business.

 

But today, higher payroll and corporate taxes mean only those employees who can make a greater than $300 profit per-month for their employer keep their jobs. All the workers who were only marginally-profitable (less than $300 per month) are losing their jobs. These were positions like late-shift workers, janitors, motel managers, gas station attendants, etc.

 

Basically the government has raised the bar for acceptable employee profitability (marginal utility), and young people can't jump it anymore.

 

Hahaha and the young kids usually support the government that does this! "Whats wrong with socialism and/or big government?" I hear all the time, and I guess the youth being unemployed is one of the problems.

Space Cadet, before you denigrate an entire generation why don't you learn some economics.

 

The entry-level jobs these people normally take don't exist anymore because they are at the low-end of marginal utility. Meaning a 17 year old working the counter at a diner used to make a $100 profit per-month for his employer, so he was a profitable addition to the business.

 

But today, higher payroll and corporate taxes mean only those employees who can make a greater than $300 profit per-month for their employer keep their jobs. All the workers who were only marginally-profitable (less than $300 per month) are losing their jobs. These were positions like late-shift workers, janitors, motel managers, gas station attendants, etc.

 

Basically the government has raised the bar for acceptable employee profitability (marginal utility), and young people can't jump it anymore.

Before you snark at me about government policy, why don't you take a moment to notice which government I'm actually familiar with.

 

From what I've seen the trend is the same in Canada, yet the policies are different. I'm sure that policy level factors are playing a role, but there is a major generational shift starting to happen and it is both causing and being caused by what's happening in the corporate world.

 

And frankly, I think that on a lot of points "millennials" have the right idea, at least more than their parents. I did not mean what I said as denigration, merely a statement of trends for better or worse.

 

I'm from Atlantic Canada. The region has been economically depressed for most of my life. I live in a university town, so the only jobs around without massive credentials (and usually even with, because hundreds of graduates stick around without job opportunities every year) are minimum wage part-time customer service positions, and minimum wages are the lowest in the country. On the upside, the recession has barely had an effect at all here because things can't really get any worse. So no, I'm not qualified to comment on what's happening in Georgia as a result of US government policy or how the recession is playing out at the ground level there. But I can comment on how my peers view and experience life, jobs, and choices.

It's actually pretty hard to get a decent job at something more advanced than burger-flipping as somebody who's 16-24 though, because all the adults are "more qualified." And nobody wants to burger-flip when they can freeload off their parents.

 

I want to work in a lab cleaning up crap etc etc this summer but even that is looking really impossible because all the people running labs are hiring graduate students with degrees to clean up their stuff. WTF. </3 God knows I'm not going to waste my time watching brats at a pool eating concession stand nachos or flipping burgers, anyway, I have college to work toward.

 

(My situation... idk about the rest of the people out there but I imagine it isn't completely dissimilar)

Noonsun, ask any graduate student - their "learning" experience involves doing menial tasks for their professors all day long.

 

There are burger flippers, then there are illegal immigrants, and then there are graduate students - who pay money so they can be a maid service.

 

Space Cadet, your situation is no different from any other person's in a western democracy. All governments are the same in this regard. There is no reason intelligent, good-looking, hard-working people shouldn't be able to find a job. Unemployment doesn't happen naturally, that's my point. It's the result of governments creating economic inefficiencies.

I actually got my first Job in Aug 24 '09 and im 18 , so too bad for the situation in US