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Young, Educated, and Unemployed: A New Generation of Kids Search for Work in their 20s
Featured Author:
GOOD Magazine
More articles from this author:
The Lost Generation: What it’s like for 20-somethings to go in search of meaningful work—and not find it.
Since January, for 35 hours a week, at a rate of $10 an hour, Luke Stacks has been working for a home-electronics chain. He answers the phone and attempts to coax callers into buying more stuff. This is not how he imagined he would be spending his late 20s.
Like a lot of us, Stacks was given a fairly straightforward version of how his life would unfold: He would go to college and study something he found interesting, graduate, and get a decent job. For a while, things went pretty much according to plan. Stacks, who now is 27, went to the University of Virginia, not far from where he grew up, majoring in American Studies. He later enrolled in a Ph.D. program at the University of Iowa, with the eventual goal of becoming a professor.
Flash forward to the fall of 2008, when the stock market crashed. There were never enough jobs for newly minted Ph.D.s to begin with, and now the likelihood of landing a tenure-track teaching position in the humanities was slim. Academia stopped looking like such a sure bet and Stacks grew disenchanted with his program. Even if he were to finish his doctorate, he reasoned, a job was in no way guaranteed to follow. He wondered, “How bad could it really be out there?” Turns out, it’s pretty bad.
So, in May of 2009, equipped with a master’s degree and a decent amount of courage, Stacks changed course. Shortly after graduation, he moved back in with his mother, who lives in Chantilly, Virginia. And from a desk in his bedroom, still littered with childhood toys and posters, Stacks started over.
What confronted him was not exactly pleasant. What once thrilled him—curating museum exhibits, making comic books, being a curious person—now seemed to make little financial sense. “I’m not confident that schooling has a direct connection with employment anymore,” he says. “But if I hadn’t received the kind of education I did, I would be less of an active citizen and less engaged in the world in ways I would not have discovered on my own.” And while passion and intellectual curiosity can’t be measured in dollars and cents, he expected they might at least secure a paycheck.
The unemployment rate among workers with at least a college degree is the highest it has been since the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking such data, in 1970.
As time passed, Stacks’s confidence flagged. “It’s the hardest thing in the world to write another cover letter about your great accomplishments if you question every day the greatness of your accomplishments,” he says.
HeatherKay
over 1 year ago
2 comments
I liked this article a lot because it showed me that I'm not alone.
sirkennuth
over 1 year ago
2 comments
Wow thanks for the wonderful language one comes to expect from the un-educated masses Bronzino. How does your comment help anyone more than the article did? It is however beneficial, at least to me, to know that I'm not the only one that has had a hard time after graduating. Bronzino, you are the kind of person who takes a dream and crushes it under your heel until there is nothing left but a cancerous paracite that turns what could have been the spark to ignite a fulfilling career into a life of anger, resentment, and loathing. The truth is that maybe we need to do a bit more research into what those hiring in our chosen fields are looking for, not just what the university says that you have to have to get the degree. If you find yourself lacking stack the cards in your favor and do what it takes to get noticed. If that means more school so be it. If it means washing a potential boss's golf cart, do it. We don't have to give up just because we weren't given everything in our lives. We have to fight for it. Everyone else has had to so why shouldn't we have to? I say gird up your loins and get back into battle, but no longer rely on just the advice of your calendar year college catelog. Do the research for your self. We can do this! We just have to remind ourselves of that. And just so you don't think that I'm one of those people that has it made; I graduated in December 2009 and have been trying to find a job as a teacher for the past almost 2 years. I work part time retail and it's killing me, but I have decided to take back control of my life. I know we will succeed if we're willing to work for it.
Bronzino
over 1 year ago
2 comments
What the hell kind of article is this? Thanks for helping me feel even more depressed, you have offered not one solution to the problem. Why? Because many are f*$#4d and there is no answer. The best I can do is offer advice for young undergrads - Unless you have top grades no one is going to give you a job based on your degree alone. Instead of partying and not doing squat for four years, you must learn outside the classroom, network with professors, attend professional nights, FIND AN INTERNSHIP, stay out of trouble, dont be concerned with "having a life," and in general do all the hard things most people don't do. If you do all these things, you will separate yourselves from the bottom-feeders featured in this article, and will definitely get a great offer. To everyone else, life sucks, and their need to be poor people to support the systematic wealth accumulation of the wealthy. You have to turn into a selfish bastard and put yourself first to get anywhere, and I mean ANYWHERE. This country is no place for an idealist, IF you want to be financially successful and independent. There is no magic answer except for a lucky few that are born privileged, and by privileged I dont mean those that have "loving" parents, I mean those that have rich and well-connected parents. For everyone else, you better work your ass off to try and prove that you belong and can be usefull to with the affluent. otherwise you will be doomed to a lifetime of sadness and poverty. Slim chance for working your way up in the world if you dont get a good job out of college, as statistics show. Probably also wont be a heaven for you if your whole life sucks and you die hoping the afterlife will be better. Not an athiest, but come on lets be serious. Anyway, make the MOST of college in order to benefit from it, otherwise you will be FUCKED.
Nkudlicki
almost 2 years ago
2 comments
I am even more upset after reading this article. Something needs to be done. We need to be given an opportunity! Give us our rightful jobs! The older generations aren't retiring and no one is hiring entry level. THIS IS RIDICULOUS.
emanns26
almost 2 years ago
6 comments
23 years old and currently unemployed. Been looking for work directly for about a week now. Officially got my B.S. in I.T. a week ago. I feel like Im falling into the same path as some of you already. I start a dual masters program in Sept which will take 2-3 years for both Master Degrees. I live about a hour away from Atlanta so I've been applying everywhere I can for entry level positions thats close. If nothing comes up soon, I may move my search to other areas of the country just to find work. After 4 years of being broke in college, I just feel like its time for something to happen you know? I think while Im unemployed I will study for and take as many tests for certifications that I can. (CompTia, MSCE, etc..) Hopefully that will give me better skills as to a certain aspect of I.T., as the I.T. Bachelors in general just exposes you to several areas of the discipline, and job positions are typically more specific (java programmer, network administrator, database administrator, web developer, etc..)
jinsai1982
almost 2 years ago
4 comments
I thought I was the only one. I currently working on my masters and assumed that once I got my bachelors in IT I could land an entry level job, but that was not the case. I have prior experience, but yet no ones to hire me because I'm either over-qualified or under-qualified. I've even drove to other cities to apply in person. I assumed that the company that I would apply would notice that I traveled a long way to apply in person instead of online. I'm currently stuck working as an office assistant and would prefer to be in my field of study instead.
bissbh43
almost 2 years ago
2 comments
This article is an example of one of the reasons the United States' economy has been on the downward slide. I am a Masters student, but I had 3 jobs when I was in undergrad at the peak of the recession while going to school. After graduating, I was offered multiple full time job positions in my field. Also, I had ideas of jobs I could create in my field, and I found help among older individuals with more experience. I decided to go to a Masters program instead though because I wanted more knowledge before working full time in my field.
I believe the problem with our generation is not that there are no jobs, but rather that we are not willing to create jobs. We need to be innovative. We need to consult in a way that improves the entire system, rather than just sends us a paycheck. Students go to college for the wrong reason: to get a degree to get a job. We need to go to school to learn. If we do, then we will be able to apply our knowledge in innovative ways that CREATE jobs. Stop waiting on the economy to recover. Go out there and change it.
jdahl21
almost 2 years ago
4 comments
I just graduated and am in the process of looking for a job. I currently live at home with my parents and work two jobs. I was hoping with a bachelor's degree, I would be able to find a job doing something I actually enjoy even if not my ideal job. But so far, I've had no luck. Every single job seems to require years of experience, which I have none of. It seems that no one is looking to hire recent college graduates with no experience.
matchstick85
almost 2 years ago
2 comments
Too close to home. I'm 25 years old with a bachelor's degree, and I'm working for minimum wage at a retail job because I'm too underqualified for anything that is available right now. Positions pertaining to my degree do exist, but they constantly demand many years of experience, of which I have none. What am I going to do? I can't get ANYTHING because there's too much competition, and I'm not nearly as qualified. I swear, waking up every morning to a day of stuffing shelves or manning cash registers instead of doing what I want to do (gathering data for a GIS) is enough to make me want to cry. It feels like I've wasted my time in college.
mikemerg1
almost 2 years ago
2 comments
I'll admit, I was looking for some sort of encouraging conclusion from this article, when all it really did was bring me back to how all of those thoughts are still running through my mind. I graduated over a year ago and am still working the same job I had since I was 16. It's definitely tough, and unfortunately, I don't think anyone really has any answers or encouragement at this point. All I keep going back to is, "I already know the plans I have for you. I will help you, not hurt you. I will give you a future and a hope." -Jeremiah 29:11. If we seek to model our lives after Jesus and trust in Him, then we will find joy and satisfaction in the "lowly" jobs that we didn't go to college for. True fulfillment comes from serving and loving others, no matter what job you hold. I have to keep reminding myself of this, but it's true. If we have faith, everything will work out one way or another, as long as we don't become discouraged and give up. Keep working hard everyone! We DIDN'T go to college for nothing!
Bmundy22
almost 2 years ago
2 comments
I agree with the girl who says she's over qualified yet underqualified. I feel as though I'm underqualified for everything. I have had minimal jobs that for one reason or another I couldn't keep and I've gone to school for three and a half years, trying to figure out what I can do. I am going to school for my B.S. in criminal Justice and am only 48 credits away from graduating and still don't know whether I'm coming or going. I don't have a driver's license, I'm on welfare and I have three kids whom I'm trying my hardest to support with no direction. When I was younger I was told that education was my ticket out but is it really? I am statistically living the life of an unemployed single African American Mother, trying my hardest to find some type of direction. I don't want to live like this the rest of my life. I want to move up to bigger, better things. Be in a place where I can support my children and myself without any help from the government or a man.
rpwalsh
almost 2 years ago
2 comments
For thiose of us experienceing this now, it actually is nothing new. I graduated with one BS in Communications in 1982, and another BS in Business Administration/Accounting in 1989, and just recently got my MS Degree in Applied Communication. Net result: unemployed and underemployed for almost 30 years. I've always argued that we never got out of the 82 recession, and that was almost as bad as the one now. Of note, I'm also the only one in my MS Applied Comm. class now looking for work.
livestrongjamie
about 2 years ago
2 comments
I agree with a lot of you, this article hit on everything I already think about myself. All it did was highlight my insecurities, which I am reminded of every day when walking into my part time job at the nation's largest retailer. Two years after graduating, here I am stuck in the same crappy job I took to help pay for rent while in college. It feels like such a joke. I guess the point of the article is to say we're not alone, however, I'm already aware of this. So basically what I took from this article is if we graduated in the heart of the recession than, we're screwed because when companies do actually go to hire people they're A, going to look for someone with experience in the field, which NONE OF US HAVE because we're stuck at crappy jobs or no job at all or B, they'll hire the new graduates who are still eager and haven't been beaten down for the past two years looking for full time employment. Nice.
ysatis18
about 2 years ago
2 comments
i dont really know how to take this article. It actually makes me more upset with my situation. Im graduated last year and im still looking for a job. Im in the whole with 30k in loans that paid for an education that got me nowhere but more debt!!!! Honestly $10/hr wont pay rent, gas n feed u :( Oh and lets not talked about jobs asking for experience. #sucks!
JustinMueller
about 2 years ago
8 comments
This article actually makes me feel better.
How was I supposed to know that my college experience wouldn't be worth anything?
I wasn't.
But atleast this whole situation doesn't mean I'm a failure cuz anyone in my position would be right where I'm at :D