Robbing the Youth

"A quarter of teenagers were jobless in March, representing a surprising increase from February, even as the unemployment rate for the rest of the population decreased.....The unemployment rate for 16- to 19-year olds jumped back up to 24.5 percent in March, up from 23.9 percent the prior month, according to the latest jobs data from the Labor Department." CNBC's

Sadly during this time of economic recover, one group seems always left out..... the youth. The reality of life is that college degrees are counting for less and less. We are the most "education generation" in history and are still the most unemployed. Even minimum wages jobs are hard to come by. Students who worked through high school to save for college or just to pay for the gas in your car are not even finding the basic jobs they had when they were 16. With all the talk of economic growth and reform, its seems that the next generation is always left out. Don't cut medicare don't revise social security don't even think of cutting wasteful spending just undercut the next generation so that the current one is happy.....  As these recent statics show the future is looking bleak for the people of my generation.

With college tuition on the rise and the unemployment rate increasing for the leaders of tomorrow we are starting to create a very explosive situation among the youth. When your college degree can't even get you a job at Starbucks it makes you wonder what will become of our future? For most of the recent graduates the biggest hurtle is the lack of experience. Most post college level jobs want 3-4 year plus of experience in a field.  Robbing our generation of basic jobs and work opportunities just increase the gravity if the issue. So if we can't get experience and a fourth of us cant get a job what will become of the "entitlement generation".


One would hope that this will act as a catalyst for real change in America.  As one of my favorite political writers said. "The pages of history are not written by the old, but by the youth, for they are the ones fighting in the trenches and protesting in the streets. The youth fight for the future while the old just fight to preserve the present" Eric Hoffer