Our new economy - especially for the younger people:

In a Washington Post op-ed that presented kinds moving back to their parents' home after college as not such a bad thing, we read: (emp add)

Millennials are the “go nowhere” generation. They’re spoiled, lazy, undecided about a line of work and all too willing to move back in with their parents after college. Boomerang kids, they are called — as if every time their moms and dads toss them out, they circle back to crash their parents’ hopes of a child-free life. At least that’s the rap against them.

It’s true that many 20-somethings move back to their childhood homes and let their parents subsidize them in ways that would have been unthinkable 50 years ago. But are they really entitled narcissists exploiting their parents’ goodwill? I don’t think so. I’ve been teaching undergraduates for 30 years, and when I talk to families, I see parents who are supportive of the semi-empty nest — and a recognition that this is the reality of the current job market. ...

... it turns out that this type of path is the best preparation for success in an economy that rewards ambition, risk-taking, entrepreneurship and adaptability.

With very few exceptions, the students whom I and other faculty members around the country work with are ... a generation facing a historic transformation in the route to a successful job and family life.

It used to be that you'd get educated and be hired for your skill set at a place that was reasonably stable and that offered health and retirement benefits.

To declare that that's not enough and that people also need "ambition, risk-taking, entrepreneurship and adaptability" is an admission that the system is broken. Or rather, has tilted way far away from a situation where labor has any negotiating power.


posted by Quiddity at 6/03/2012 10:43:00 AM