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I recently read a Boston Herald article about the high unemployment rate for new college graduates.  According to the article, and numerous others as well, employers are hiring 22% fewer new college graduates than in the past.[1]  Just like their older counter-parts, new college grads are having a rough go in the job market.  The article went on to call the current crop of new college graduates “Generation Jobless.” 

 

Generation Jobless.  This was the first time I’d heard the phrase and it caught my attention.  Is the job market really that rough for the new college graduates?  When we look back on this recession (does anyone still doubt that we are in a full blown recession?) at some far distant day in the future when the world is bright and rosy again, will they really be known as “Generation Jobless?”  If so, what does that make the Baby Boomer generation who is also the victim of record high unemployment rates, particularly long-term unemployment?

 

This is a topic of some interest to me because not only are my husband and I currently temporarily “retired,” but between the two of us, we have 3 children in college.  My daughter is just entering Texas State University majoring in Biology with Chemistry minor.  She’s just shy of being a junior and hopes to one day become a doctor.  My husband’s youngest is also at Texas State majoring in Business with an emphasis in International Finance.  He has two years left in school as well.  His oldest graduated in May with a double major in Philosophy and Political Science.   After surveying the opportunities available in our region for new graduates, he made a decision not to participate in the current “calf scramble” for a job and headed straight to graduate school.  (For those of you not fortunate enough to be from a ranching background, a calf scramble is an event at a rodeo where they put a number of calves in an arena with an even greater number of children.  If the child can catch a calf and get it over the finish line, they get to keep it.  It’s really a quite valuable prize!)

 

Even though we’ve been looking forward with anticipation to his graduation and having one less train to pull, we weren’t surprised at his decision not to enter the workforce and support us in a manner to which we’d like to become accustomed!  (ha!)  We know all too well the state of the job market.   Jobs are few and far between.   In May alone, Texas suffered 135 mass layoffs, which puts us tied for sixth place.  (A mass layoff occurs when one employer layoffs 50 or more people at one time.)[2]      

 

State	May, 2009 Mass Layoffs
California	487
Pennsylvania	227
Florida	181
Michigan	180
Ohio	145
Illinois/Texas	135

 

As a native born Texan (no imports here), I’d normally be thrilled to be see Texas in the top ten at anything.  I have to say that this is one top ten list I wish we’d missed out on! 

Keep in mind that this statistic is only the mass layoff statistic.  It doesn’t take into account the myriad of smaller, unreported layoffs that are occurring in small and mid-size businesses not only in Texas, but across the US as well.  You only have to crunch the numbers to know that this is a rough time for anyone looking for work regardless of their age.

 

If these young graduates can’t get jobs, what is going to be the impact downstream?  What happens to the 22% who don’t get hired?  How will that impact the overall unemployment rate?  More importantly, how is that going to impact the long-term unemployment rate?  The long-term unemployment rate is a huge indicator of the true health and recovery, or lack thereof, of the economy.  At 4.5% of the workforce, the unemployment rate for those out of work more than 15 weeks is currently at the highest level since 1948![3]

 

I have a vested interest in the answer to these questions.  I want to know what the rising unemployment numbers in the other age demographics mean to me and how they will impact long-term unemployment.   I turned 50 in October and have been back on the job market since February.  I’m 50.  So what?  I’m still beautiful, vibrant, articulate, well-read, well-spoken, well-educated (boy am I well-educated!!!), fun, talented, innovative, creative and full of energy and life.   Did I become less so at the stroke of midnight?  If you recall, even Cinderella’s slipper remained magical and cast a powerful spell long after the horses turned back into mice and the coach into a pumpkin.  I’m 50.  Again I ask, so what? 

 

I have a friend who works for a “consulting” company.  Part of his job is to go into companies and decide what should be put “out,” “away,” or “away from” the company.  In other words, at the tender age of 24, with no “adult” work experience or significant life experiences, he is determining who should be expressed, excluded, exited, exhaled, expulsed.  He decides who to enervate.  He makes the recommendation for who should be “EX’d” out of the business.  Because of his youth, he has a perception that older workers cost too much money for the company (he missed the part about experience counting, continuity of skill set, knowledge transfer, etc.) – that younger workers are “smarter” and more up to date on technology – that they’ll work longer hours than their older counterparts who have families which interfere with 100 hour work weeks (that statement is probably true!) – that older workers aren’t really laid off or let go, they just get “early” (forced – involuntary) retirement.   

 

This thought process and scenario is nothing new.  It’s being played out daily.   We all like to feel comfortable in our environment.  You have to wonder if his recommendations, and those of others like him, leave behind a well rounded, vibrant, diverse workforce, or if they leave behind a workforce that is representative and reflective of their culture, experience and demographics.  It’s a thought to ponder.  We’ve all heard the adage of first out the door and last back in and there is some truism to that saying.    

 

While all age groups are definitely represented in the current unemployment numbers, we know that statistically older workers remain out of work longer on average than their younger counterparts (22.2 weeks for older workers versus 16 weeks for younger workers in 2008).   We know that older workers lose more earning power than younger workers do when they reenter the workforce.   We know that unemployment for older workers is at a record high.  The statistics are particularly staggering for men over the age of 50.   The Current Population Survey (CPS) in March, 2009 indicated overall unemployment for men at 8.7% with white males showing an 8.5% and African American males with a whopping 12.4% unemployment rate.  This was in March.  The information is now dated.  

 

This comes as no surprise and in fact perhaps should be expected when the decision makers are often young enough to be the children of those whose lives they are impacting.   After all, no one wants mom and dad around telling them what to do.  It’s much easier for them to simply be “out” of or “EX’d” from the picture.  Regardless of the cause, it’s also nothing new.  The prejudice against older workers has been around for a long time – at least 100 years if not longer.  (If you haven’t already read it, check out the article Men Over 50 Appeal for Work.  (http://www.texpen.com/?p=44#more-44) which discusses the unemployment issues in 1909.)   

 

Since older workers can’t get hired, and now unemployment statistics for the younger generation are beginning to catch up, I’m wondering who’s actually minding the shop and working.  If the current generation is the “Generation Jobless,” then do the powers-that-be think that this is going to be a long-term issue which will define this generation much the way the Great Depression defined my grandparents’ generation?   If this generation is known as “Generation Jobless,” then in the future the Baby Boomers may well come to be known as the “EX” Generation.    

   

 

  

 

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Live life fully so that at the end of it, you’ll have no regrets for the things left undone.  Live long – live well – live happy!  The most important thing is to live.   

 

 

 

 

Tags: Layoffs, Long-term unemployment, Older Workers, recession, Unemployment, unemployment for college graduates

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 at 2:38 pm and is filed under Layoffs, Long-term unemployment, Older Workers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.