Boomers’ Kids in a Job Squeeze: What To Do?
In conversation with a friend the other day, I heard that it's been difficult for young people in the 15 – 24 age group to get a job. The Conference Board of Canada indicated that the unemployment rate is around 14%, double of the jobless rate for the workforce as a whole.
Part of the problem is the cyclical weakness in our economy. During the 2008 recession, youth jobless rates crept up to nearly 2.5 times the average. Another factor is that people are working longer. They are in better health than those of the previous (pre-WW) generation and they have more money. Baby boomers, now 47-65 years old, are taking longer than expected to retire. Baby boomers, especially, have lost some money in the recent economic downtown. At the same time, the echo boomers (children of the boomers) have been graduating and entering the workforce in droves, adding to the unemployment rate.
But there is hope yet! Some experts say that this bottleneck will soon ease, perhaps as early as 2015. Fewer people were born in the 1990s, says David Foot, famed demography, economist and author of Boom, Bust and Echo.
Comments