The Kids (Young Adults) are NOT Doing OK

http://baselinescenario.com/2010/11/20/how-are-the-kids-unemployed-underwater-and-sinking/
Baseline Scenario has an article written by two young college graduates about how young people, even those with college degrees are struggling. Read the article linked above.

I'll include a few excerpts below but before I do I want to remind readers of a tidbit I found in the Wall Street Journal a month or so ago:

"Poverty Rate 42.8% for 25-to-34-Year"
Dougherty, C., & Murray, S. (2010, September 17). Lost Decade for Family Income. The Wall Street Journal, p. A1, A4.

We have allowed an entire generation to be dispossessed, marginalized, impoverished.

Here are a few excerpts from the Baseline scenario article written by Mark Paul and Anastasia Wilson:

"Currently, even after a slight boost in jobs growth, unemployment for 18-24 year olds stands at 24.7%. For 20-24 year olds, it hovers at 15.2%. These conservative estimates, using the Bureau of Labor Statistics U3 measure, do not reflect the number of marginally attached or discouraged young workers feeling the lag from a nearly moribund job market.

"The U3 measure also does not count underemployment, yet with only 50% of B.A. holders able to find jobs requiring such a degree, underemployment rates are a telling index of the squeezing of the 18-30 year old Millennial generation. While it appears everyone is hurting since the financial collapse, young adults bear a disproportionate burden, constituting just 13.5% of the workforce while accounting for 26.4% of those unemployed. Even with good credentials, it is difficult for young people to find work and keep themselves afloat.

"... Average student debt for the class of 2008 was $23,200, an increase over four years of about 25%, meaning that students are knee deep in negative equity between their educational investment and actual earnings...."