The Kids Are All Right
Finding a full-time job is the hardest full-time job I’ve ever had.
Add maintaining a blog about the job prospects for my age group while finding a full-time job and you have a blog that has been hibernating this winter like a grizzly.
As I often read numerous articles about the Millennials, I noticed very few actually discuss Millennials as people and not some unemployment statistic.
Despite the unfortunate economic circumstances that Millennials have come of age into, there is a lot of good at work for them. For this blog post I figure I would talk more about them than their circumstances.
So who are the Millennials?
By most definitions, Millennials are identified as people born between 1980 and 2000, a group that grew up during the proliferation of cable television, the Internet, animation, and the cell phone.
But what Millennials represent and how they are changing the world is much more important.
Millennials are historically tolerant.
In a recent article published by The Daily Beast, Hannah Seligson wrote that Millennials are far less racist and homophobic than their parents and grandparents.
They are one of the most colorblind generations that played an important role in electing the first black president and nine in 10 18- to 29-year-olds say they approve of interracial dating and marriage, compared with 73 percent of 30- to 49-year-olds.
Seligson further noted that more than 6-in-10 (62%) Millennials favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry compared with only about 1-in-3 (31%) Seniors.
Millennials are technologically savvy and changing how work is done.
In a recent panel discussing who the Millennials are, Dr. Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania, characterized them as digital natives who believe and thrive in social networking. “They believe in two things: social networking and making a difference,” Gutmann said.
According to a Pew study, 69 percent of Millennials polled stated that one of their three highest life priorities is civic engagement, Gutmann said.
And the workplace is improving because of Millennials’ desire to incorporate technology and seek a reward beyond a simple paycheck. We feel that work shouldn’t be constrained to a set 9 to 5 grind and we look to create, invent, innovate and solve problems. Millennials are rethinking how companies can provide good to the world and are working toward projects that are both meaningful and exciting so that adulthood isn’t filled with boredom, routine and petty frustrations.
As Seligson wrote, Fortune 500 companies are increasingly emphasizing quality-of-life benefits, corporate social responsibility, and flexible work schedules to not only attract and retain young talent but also make the office a friendlier and more enjoyable place.
Of course, you’ll always have your haters.
By contrast, articles published in the Atlantic and Jezebel suggest that the Millennials couldn’t care less about what happens outside of their Facebook newsfeed and are the most entitled “trustafarians” ever.
Jean M. Twenge, professor of psychology at San Diego State University and the author of Generation Me, noted that although Millennials are historically tolerant and for equality her studies found that they are much less civically engaged or mindful than previously thought.
To make a long report of generational analysis and surveys short, Twenge found data that suggests Millennials “…were less likely than Boomers and even GenXers to say they thought about social problems, to be interested in politics and government, to contact public officials, or to work for a political campaign. They were less likely to say they trusted the government to do what’s right, and less likely to say they were interested in government and current events.”
Although I won’t disagree that the Internet and social media have given Millennials an exaggerated sense of self importance, I think we genuinely do care and are making strides.
As Jason Oberholtzer of Forbes wrote, “Every generation is diverse, complicated and has their own obstacles to overcome. In this regard, The Lost Generation is the same as all that have come before us. History, not misplaced optimism, suggests that we will get by, and will welcome adulthood on our own terms. We grew up with loose ends, loose labels and high expectations. I think we are doing just fine.”
In other words, the kids are all right.
From a retired/disabled boomer: I am happy to see young people like you working to make a more just and meaningful society. It’s a huge project and I hope that economic problems don’t hinder you too much. We are all counting on you ….
We should be counting on one another. Anything you can do to help the youth in this situation would be very much appreciated. I fear the boomer generation has done their job of contributing to this state.
I want to add my two cents to Penny McCracken — go to North Dakota or Nebraska and write about it. With your talent you will add great insight to the public dialot about the lives of young people searching for jobs in that industry. Good luck!
I wish I had thought of that! Yes, do go there — and write about jobs. Good luck!
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Just want to mention that you’re a helluva writer. You should go far in your chosen career field.
Right now, there are hundreds of jobs going unfilled in North Dakota and Nebraska. The new
oil boom, along with the ‘fracking’ you’ve heard about, is desperately trying to hire every skill
they can find. Imagine building a huge new city in a few months. Men are working up there, living in campers and trailers, the town is having to enlarge their sewage treatment plants, the
hotels are crowded, the restaurants are swamped, so they need everybody: Oil drillers, then
truck drivers — making $60K a year to start! People to serve food, cook food, clean, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, doctors, nurses, EMTs, ambulance drivers, ER personnel, and on and
on, and every single skill is higher paid than anything you can imagine. Check with the temporary employment services, Google ‘Jobs – Nebraska, North Dakota” — check with the
employers! You are the answer to their troubles, and there is nothing you learn, at whatever
job, that won’t come in handy in the future. BE flexible! BE willing to suffer a little hardship,
I’m a woman, aged 74, aerospace background, 100% disabled and homebound, and if I was
ten years younger, and not quite so disabled, I’d pack me and the dog, and be on the next
Greyhound! DO, learn how to handle their Arctic winters, including being smart about ice, snow
and storms. Other than that — GO TO WORK! Some jobs, they will even train your for. Also
across the nation, there are 635 jobs going begging for machinists, people in the skilled trades,and you don’t need a college degree to get that. Get your butts into a trade school,
or contact the employers up there, and ask what they need. Best of luck
CORRECTION; That should have read 635 THOUSAND jobs!
I had the same thought…I would like to hear why people have chosen not to do this? Do they not have the bus fare? Are they afraid to leave the people they know? Are there just psychological obstacles? Many of the people who finally left New Orleans have done well in Texas, or LA or wherever they went but it took a flood to get them to try.
It would be a good idea to thoroughly research the scene up in N. Dakota before you go. I know that Millennials care about the Earth and having a non-toxic future for themselves and their children. Fracking is destroying the aquifers, and degrading the environment beyond repair. The oil that is produced requires 4 gallons or more of water to make one gallon of oil. The towns that are growing now in N. Dakota will be the new ghost towns when the shale oil is completely extracted, and a wasteland will be left in its stead. It is important to weigh the effects of one’s actions, and instead of being herded into these areas in order to make a buck, we can find better ways to re-establish a manufacturing base in this country employing more efficient and cleaner technologies…
Lance, please contact me. I read about you from a link in the NYTimes and just read your article.
Relocation isn’t easy. It takes some money to move, for gas, for a place to stay when you get there, food, etc. And a place to stay in the ND oilfield is really hard to find, and EXPENSIVE. Then you’ve gotta find work—mostly of a labor nature. Oil firms already have their geologists and oil engineers. If you know someone already there, that would be a great advantage, but for most people, that’s not so likely.
My advice would be to put the heat on your senators, representatives and the White House (202-456-1111) to demand an emergency jobs program. There’s a huge backlog of repair in all sorts of public buildings and parks across the country, everything from painting to plumbing repair. The govt could spend $100 billion hiring people to fix up public facilities and get their money’s worth while providing good worthwhile jobs. We’d have a better job market now if the Obama admin had pushed hard for such a program in 2009, I think. Obama has had bad economic advice and so far has acted more like a moderate Republican than a New Deal Democrat. If you watch what he does instead of what he says, you’d have to conclude he’s not the liberal he was advertised to be. This is a political battle. You’re out of work because fatcats don’t want to pay the taxes or payroll to put people to work. They want all the money for themselves. It needs to be taxed away from them and put back into circulation to create jobs.
I went through some hard times 30 years ago during the Reagan recession and in the early 1970s too. I couldn’t find a job for love or money. Well, I didn’t try either one, but you know what I mean. I searched in St. Joe, Kansas City and Topeka, finally found a little job halfway across the state after trying for three years. It really sucked. Like the job market today.
“Then you’ve gotta find work—mostly of a labor nature.” This says it all. The answer is not a make-work program these have never and will never work because the money to fund them has to come from somewhere. The current taxes, and expectations of future tax hikes (the Chinese WILL get their money back) stifles the investment that is a necessary precursor to any new hiring.
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