On a Lost Decade for Young American Workers

by paving Wed Sep 2nd, 2009 at 04:18:14 AM EST

An interesting link was recently posted in the Salon that captured something that is very rarely discussed in the US media. The notion that for young workers, this is a lost decade resonates strongly with my personal experience.

I'm a 30 year-old American who has been in the workforce since 1998. Everything in that article rings as absolutely true.
Speaking entirely for my age group (and anecdotally but with education):

Most people continue to live with their families after age 18. They either stay home for a 1-3 years while attending local community colleges/state schools or stay home while working to earn enough to move out on their own. In the parts of the country with lower cost of living this is on the lower end and in almost all cities this is on the higher end. It appears to me that this has become even more common in the years since I left home.
For those who move away to attend 4-year colleges easily 50% spend at least 6 months back home with their family immediately after school. Others "helicopter" back home for 6-18 months at some point within the next 3-4 years, usually after a city relocation or job goes bust and they need some time to get back on their feet.
Earnings, on average, have not improved at all in the past 10 years. Someone who is working a good job, with years of experience and with actual responsiblities is making basically the same amount of money they made 10 years ago and often slightly less when adjusted for inflation. It is a small percentage, 10-20%, who have seen the kind of income growth one might've expected in previous generations.
Job stability is very low. Since 1998 I have worked in six different jobs, all "professional" by nature. I have rarely seen people promoted up the ranks in any meaningful way. In the US you typically leave your position for another company if you want a significant promotion or a meaningful raise (ie more than inflation).
Outside of cities/regions with declining populations and the South there is little expectation of home ownership. The majority of people under 35 who purchase property are doing so with family assistance. Most people, even educated, reasonably successful professionals with years of work experience cannot afford a 2br apartment of their own to rent or even a 1br in cities (LA/NYC/SF/DC) where salaries are better.
Most people with college degrees have at least 20k in student loan debt and 5-10k in credit card debt.

All of these realities crystallize and are key drivers for the opinion trends you find in political surveys and last year's elections.

Younger people are concerned about health insurance because they can't rely on their employers to provide it.
They have little expectation of being "in charge" at work (or particularly well-paid) and instead tend to seek out work that is more fulfilling as consolation.
They don't feel they are represented at all by the political establishment. There are no decisions made politically in the US that seem to benefit us in anyway. Obama at least paid lip service to this hence his massive victory in my age group.
The banks/corporate CEO's and other villains are stand-ins for many people for the Baby Boomer generation. Their living standard is much higher on the whole and they are everybody's boss.

It strikes me as strange that many people's parents/that generation is willing to give the younger people hand-outs (paying their rent, car insurance, etc, well into the 20's) but not willing to give them the opportunity to earn it on their own.

Anyone who can do math can see that their living standard will be much lower than that of their parents generation. I think the lack of economic opportunity is a huge reason why they are so interested in public service, political activism, climate change/green living and other ways to make an impact in their society. They simply feel there is no other way to make a mark.

On a Lost Decade for Young American Workers | 43 comments (43 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young American Workers (4.00 / 13)

To expand on causation a bit I'll suggest that a major culprit has been the outsourcing model. Not off-shoring, where typically lower-level and entry-level jobs are shipped to areas with lower labor costs but rather the outsourcing of major aspects of business that used to be done in-house.

The way this works is a company needs a project done and choose to hire a company that specializes in this type of task to implement it rather than relying on in-house talent. Typically the management level that oversees this project is not directly skilled in that area (otherwise they would do it themselves). The lower-level employees (where the under 30 age group usually finds itself) are not given oversight or opportunity to participate, rather they are expected to handle the menial tasks that come as a result of the project, continuing in their same roles.

You will find this model in all departments in a typical US company, be it accounting, PR, IT, marketing or engineering. The standard philosophical justification for this is that the business is choosing to focus on its "core strengths," aka primary revenue-generating tasks, rather than getting deeply involved in operational and back-office work that is seen as largely a cost (because it does not directly produce revenue).

This has created a huge number of businesses and individuals who are focused on "consulting." These companies sell their expertise in a particular area to other companies and are paid a fee to perform these job functions on their behalf for a set period of time.

In theory, this sounds like an efficient way to run a business (to the American ear) but in practice it has a negative effect for all three concerned parties.

Consultants who do not work for the business are not invested in the success of that business by nature. Their success is more dependent on the selling of their product to more businesses. The consulting firm also has cost concerns. Typically they feature a number of highly-qualified and talented people who are used to sell and start projects which are then seen-through by a larger staff that meets whatever paper qualification is necessary to make them look qualified to a company that has no ability to evaluate their actual talent.
The lower-level employees of a Company do not gain the opportunity to grow and learn on new projects as these are deferred to "experts." This prevents the grooming of younger employees into seasoned managers and reduces the internal talent, forcing the Company to hire from outside when it does justify the cost for that mid-level talent.
The Company itself receives an inferior product in many cases because it lacked capable oversight for the project and insufficient motivators for the implementing team, which doesn't actually work for them. Managers are able to cover their failure by blaming another company rather than themselves.

The end result for the employees looks like this:

Lower-level staff do not receive promotions or enhanced skills nor do they increase their value to the organization in terms of experience. This keeps them cheaper and more replaceable.
Employees of consulting firms are quite often employed on a contract or temporary basis and do not receive benefits or generate overhead costs as many "work out of their homes" (aka pay their own overhead).

In the larger picture what you end up with are a bunch of businesses that are only good at one thing, a bunch of consulting firms that are only good at two things (sales and whatever expertise they sell), and a bunch of workers who can't gain any traction within a business but can't get ahead working as a consultant because they are only able to do one thing.

The cultural reflection of this is the "expert worship" that has become so common in American culture. If a political event occurs the media hires an "expert" to tell people what to think about it. The same thing happens in the arts and everything else. The end result is a loss of what I feel has long been a major driver of American success, the "generalist" ability to understand underlying themes and techniques that can be applied across disciplines. From the outside I imagine it looks like a bunch of people selling things to each other and nothing actually getting done.

This is the essence of what is commonly referred to as the "service" economy.

by paving on Wed Sep 2nd, 2009 at 05:18:19 AM EST

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young American Workers (4.00 / 7)

Consultants who do not work for the business are not invested in the success of that business by nature. Their success is more dependent on the selling of their product to more businesses. The consulting firm also has cost concerns. Typically they feature a number of highly-qualified and talented people who are used to sell and start projects which are then seen-through by a larger staff that meets whatever paper qualification is necessary to make them look qualified to a company that has no ability to evaluate their actual talent.

Thats sort-of Accurate. Typically the top level of consultants are a group of primarily skilled ~~Bullshit artists~~ Salesmen who are quite happy to sell you the moon on a stick. the ability to delver said moon tends to be seen as a seperate problem. (I've seen my own notes, that were given to the consultants, recycled (with coloured graphics, and shiny presentation but still my own spelling mistakes) back to my unsuspecting management at staggering cost.

The primary problem is lack of confidence of management in their own ability to make decisions about things outside their own area of competence.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Wed Sep 2nd, 2009 at 06:04:33 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young American Workers (4.00 / 9)

The consultant scam is just a new and better way for well placed individuals in the private sector to extract money from other private companies or the public sector. I have had a front row seat to the ongoing process in Los Angeles Unified School District. There the consultants actually made out reasonably well. They got paid $80K and up on an annualized basis, got good health care and industry average 401K retirement benefits, but they served "at the pleasure" of their employers, who could lay them off with minimal notice, usually with two weeks to a month severance pay.

But those employers charged out the time of these consultants to the District at $60/hr for a receptionist, $125/hr for an entry level project manager and as much as $250/hr for higher level managers. Traditionally, construction projects were allocated 10% of the project cost for all design and construction supervision services. Architects and engineers bid on projects on the basis of a fixed percentage of the final construction cost. The consultants were paid by the hour, 40-48 hrs/wk, 52 wks/yr. They were happy to review drawings till Hell froze over, making some valid comments, but a lot of comments that were just busy work. They would hold weekly meetings and want all Architecture and Engineering disciplines represented, yet the EEs would sit through long discussions of paving and carpentry issues. This drove up the cost of A&E contracts, but not enough to properly compensate for the wasted effort.

The consultants, individually, were able and personable, though they often had minimal experience in dealing with some of the issues involved, and they had no way to properly exercise "ownership" on behalf of the District and the public. Were they to try, they were likely to quickly find themselves looking for a new job. All told, they managed to increase the design and construction supervision costs to somewhere between 30 and 50 percent. The owners of the firms are, of course, well able to make significant political contributions out of the profit from paying people $80K/yr and charging them out at $125/hr. That, and the ability to get rid of anyone who acts in ways not appreciated by District managers, were the only "advantages" I could see. Meanwhile, the District proceeded to dismantle their own A&E and Project Management team, which did know how to build schools and how to manage construction to the benefit of the public. Those professionals would, however, criticize lunatic plans put forward by District placeholder supervisors that would require them to act in an unprofessional manner. And, of course, top management for this activity had been recruited by a politically savy Superentendent, Roy Romer, former Gov. of Colorado, from the Navy. A disgusting spectacle.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Wed Sep 2nd, 2009 at 01:07:24 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young American Workers (4.00 / 4)

There are similarities for me here - we are the same age. I don't have a chance to trawl for stats but plenty of anecdotal experience shows similar trends.

Young people are now more likely to choose universities close to home so they can stay with their parents, people often need to come back home after graduating or while working or in between work due to financial difficulties.

I can't afford to buy and would struggle with the rent if I didn't have a lodger. I do have a decent salary, but no prospects for progression where I am and I work for an organisation that does invest in it's staff. I've been applying for jobs for over a year and get shortlisted but have been unsuccessful with all of them, and I haven't been aiming too high or going for stuff I can't or don't want to do.

I don't have a home to go back to and no such safety net if things go wrong, bar the fact that I rent from my Dad so if I was in the worse case scenario I think he would help me out rent wise but I've certainly not been carried through life so far.

Yet it is astounding to see how many people have had huge financial help from their parents and how dependent they've become on that.

Our generation isn't likely to be in a position to help our kids the way our parents have done so what happens then?

by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Wed Sep 2nd, 2009 at 05:20:57 AM EST

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young American Workers (4.00 / 2)

In Wales:

I don't have a home to go back to and no such safety net if things go wrong, bar the fact that I rent from my Dad so if I was in the worse case scenario I think he would help me out rent wise but I've certainly not been carried through life so far.
Yet it is astounding to see how many people have had huge financial help from their parents and how dependent they've become on that.
Our generation isn't likely to be in a position to help our kids the way our parents have done so what happens then?

Western civilisation peaked in the 1960's.

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Sep 2nd, 2009 at 05:39:03 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young American Workers (4.00 / 4)

Western civilisation peaked in the 1960's.

While the other comments in this thread are quite apt, the core and driver is right here. We began hitting our resource limits in the 1970s, but in 1980 chose not to adapt. The arrangements made to buy time in the 1980s set us on a new, downward course. We got a reprieve in the early 1990s, unevenly shared--to say the least--but in any case it was squandered, and now we are hitting the wall. It's over, and the unfolding financial crisis is the visible sign that it is over, and that the process of unravelling has begun.

And this is why there is no cure.

Ameliorating measures, which could be taken, will not be--because they are not profitable. So forget about waiting on industry or government to "do something"--They won't do anything except shower you with happy-talk of green shoots!

This is what decline looks like.

You must take your own life into your own hands: Think and plan carefully and act without getting caught up in the system's storyline.

The Fates are kind.

by Gaianne on Wed Sep 2nd, 2009 at 11:54:33 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young American Workers (4.00 / 3)

Gaianne:

The arrangements made to buy time in the 1980s

great comment, G.

we didn't even buy time, we 'borrowed' it.

and borrowed time is what we've been living on since.

(and proceeeded to borrow everything else too)

the sixties wa the proverbial tipping point, and we blew it, ostensibly.

on the other, invisible hand, could ET have existed today without its precursors in the 60's?

my take is that it was (and is) a still mainly cultural turning point, and still remains ahead of its time, because the narratives of demo-capitalism have been so thoroughly and expertly drummed into us since birth, giving sustained seeming vigour to a system of predatory exploitation up with which Gaia will no longer put.

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Thu Sep 3rd, 2009 at 02:17:46 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young American Workers (4.00 / 6)

I rather fundamentally disagree with the "take your own life into your own hands" approach, and I suspect many others may age do as well.

And that is because we realize we simply do not possess the resources to do that. What exactly does "take our own life into our own hands" mean, anyway? How is that to be done when you don't have enough money to afford a place to live, no savings or safety net to fall back upon?

Already I am seeing signs among many of my peers that we are quite open to a new method of living that does not perpetuate the failed model of the 20th century. Virtually every woman my age that I know knits, and they've grown very competitive (in a playful way) in knitting their own clothing. Here in Monterey a group of people in our late 20s and early 30s are spearheading a community garden. The same group has produced a new bike plan for the city. We're preparing to adjust to a post-peak oil lifestyle. But we're doing it as part of group efforts.

No, the solutions to this are communal, collective, and political. I think many people my age are beginning to grasp this, if they haven't already done so. Steadily rising voter participation rates among the 18-29 bracket would provide some evidence of that, as do the stats showing that support for government health care is highest among people of that same cohort.

And the world will live as one

by Montereyan (robert at calitics dot com) on Fri Sep 4th, 2009 at 12:18:54 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Life in own hands (4.00 / 2)

Virtually every woman my age that I know knits, and they've grown very competitive (in a playful way) in knitting their own clothing. Here in Monterey a group of people in our late 20s and early 30s are spearheading a community garden. The same group has produced a new bike plan for the city. We're preparing to adjust to a post-peak oil lifestyle. But we're doing it as part of group efforts.

See? You are already doing it. And yes, forming groups is very important, as the individual is not a viable survival unit.

No, the solutions to this are communal, collective, and political.

National politics is dead--a shell game for rubes. Local politics may well be viable--and matters! State politics is variable, very iffy. Collective strategies that work are vital, but it is very important not to get sucked into collective strategies (most of politics) that don't work. The US has no viable political paradigms. None. If you are doing politics you should be looking ahead three to five decades, because asside from amelioration and rearguard action, that is the timescale involved.

The Fates are kind.

by Gaianne on Fri Sep 4th, 2009 at 02:25:00 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young American Workers (4.00 / 2)

Please take this comment and its follow-up and make a diary out of them.

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Sep 4th, 2009 at 02:36:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young American Workers (4.00 / 2)

In Wales:

Our generation isn't likely to be in a position to help our kids the way our parents have done so what happens then?

well, the choice most young people are making is not to have kids, (or maybe one, in their late thirties), i guess exactly for that reason.

italy's decision to do this a generation ago leads to two obvious changes:

you can spend an hour or two walking around an italian small city like cortona and suddenly realise you haven't seen one person under 14. (after hawaii, where reproduction is still numerous, this is a bit like the 'twilight zone')
there are a lot of rich, underproductive grown-up only children with flash cars and several properties in their 20's, as the money made through the boom years funnels down to less inheritors.

most kids i see in my local market town have moms wearing burkas.

purely anecdotal...

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Thu Sep 3rd, 2009 at 02:07:23 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young American Workers (4.00 / 6)

Another 30-year old chiming in here...

Seeing similar trends here. My sister is living with her in-laws. They've saved up enough money for a downpayment (theoretically) but were getting consistently outbid for homes in Southern California by cash investors over the last 6 months. My sister then lost her job when California laid of 30,000 teachers - she regained the former position but only as a 1-year contract teacher (the adjunct-ization of K-12 education is an unreported but very real phenomenon).

She was totally unprepared, mentally and financially, for this economic crisis. And she still believes that the late 20th century model of American middle-class suburbia we were both raised in is viable for her. No matter how often I tried to tell her she'd be better off renting and saving her money rather than buy in the Inland Empire, she would not accept that she'd have to reconceive her life plan in that way.

The attack on government, which is more advanced here in California than in virtually any other US state, is having the effect of further closing off career options for folks our age. The diarist did a great job of explaining how a lack of advancement opportunities in most businesses had driven folks of our generation to seek more meaningful work. We also sought more secure work. And for a lot of my peers, that was in education. At least 6 of my friends from high school got laid off from their teaching jobs in CA this past year. My wife is a librarian and is barely clinging to her post. A generation of people who see public service as a noble and meaningful calling is being told it is no longer an option.

This is setting into motion a significant shift in perceptions, and hardening a determination to produce fundamental change in how this country operates. The most powerful engine for this shift will be the birthrate. When folks my age realize their dreams of having a family are imperilled by the economic crisis, as people keep delaying their reproduction and come up against the biological clock, you are going to see an explosive sense of resentment and anger at a stolen future, at a stolen life.

That won't produce change immediately, but over the next decade it is going to begin to unfold.

For my own part, my wife and I are lucky to still be able to afford the rent on a great apartment six blocks from Monterey Bay. But in the event we lose our jobs, we have already planned to move onto her parents' property on one of the islands in Puget Sound. As they age and as we seek a more secure place to live, it makes sense to build a multigenerational family on that land (especially since other parts of her family own the surrounding land).

And the world will live as one

by Montereyan (robert at calitics dot com) on Fri Sep 4th, 2009 at 12:12:03 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young American (4.00 / 2)

The inexpensive way to get a place is to band together and purchase a multi-unit residence.

Rules of Thumb: multi-unit residences versus 2-3 bedroom detached house in the same area:

a duplex runs 'about' 20% under in cost

a 4-plex apartment building runs 'about' 10% lower

an 8-plex run 'about' the same

Generally speaking, you get what you pay for. Knowing basic construction and finishing techniques or having the uff-dah to learn them will save you much bucks.

Another property to look for is one of those old buildings with a commercial space as the ground floor with apartments above it. In the right area these things are hidden gold. Lots of room upstairs and the commercial space can be used in any number of ways.

Don't overlook "commercial" properties such as old warehouses, office buildings, strip malls, etc. Looking outside my window I see a 2,500 sq. ft. "office" building one can pick-up for under $35k with at least $20k worth or old electric equipment waiting to be salvaged and re-sold - I'd buy it but we don't have the money, at the moment.

For those determined to have a single detached dwelling thinking outside-the-suburb can really pay off. House boats, fishing boats, unused train stations, caves, old freighters, light houses, docks, piers, old railroad cars, used travel trailers have all been converted; the potential is limited by your imagination.

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

by ATinNM on Sun Sep 6th, 2009 at 01:06:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young American (none / 1)

Helsinki has quite a lot of old medium size brick-built storage buildings in the suburbs, that are no longer required thanks to JIT (Just In Time) manufacturing and delivery. Where there is a need for storage, it is now in large purpose built high-bay boxes on the ring roads. They have no lights in the storage areas. Robots don't need them.

But these perfect old building await a 'change of use' permit to residential.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sun Sep 6th, 2009 at 01:13:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young American (none / 0)

ATinNM's Basic Rule for Finding a Place to Park Your Butt:

There's always a real estate Steal looking for a Deal.

Basic price-wise, how much are we talking?

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

by ATinNM on Sun Sep 6th, 2009 at 01:26:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young American (none / 0)

I'd have to ask, but I have an infrequent industrial property client that might know.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sun Sep 6th, 2009 at 02:04:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young American (none / 0)

Just an idle question. Don't bother.

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

by ATinNM on Sun Sep 6th, 2009 at 03:17:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young American Workers (4.00 / 2)

Even in better cases, the young people are welcomed into the new brave world with mortgage and education bills, for most of their lives. When were they ever more limited?

by das monde on Wed Sep 2nd, 2009 at 08:06:45 AM EST

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young American Workers (none / 1)

das monde:

When were they ever more limited?

or de-skilled?

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Thu Sep 3rd, 2009 at 02:19:40 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young American Workers (4.00 / 7)

In the US you typically leave your position for another company if you want a significant promotion or a meaningful raise (ie more than inflation).

By corporate standards I know why they do this, but it isn't to their benefit. I've reached "someone you want to keep around status" at my last two jobs, and even with that, meaningful raises within the same company only come through counteroffers.

Outside of cities/regions with declining populations and the South there is little expectation of home ownership.

Mostly a byproduct of the housing bubble - there is not a housing shortage in the US. I think we're in for a decade of declining real estate prices.

you are the media you consume.

by MillMan (millguy at gmail) on Wed Sep 2nd, 2009 at 09:55:09 AM EST

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young American Workers (4.00 / 7)

Many, many young workers in Paris, working at rather well paid jobs, are now sharing an apartment with others as it is the only way to afford housing reasonably close to one's job. They used to make fun of the Soviet communal apartments, but they are coming back in the West...

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères

by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Wed Sep 2nd, 2009 at 10:09:30 AM EST

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young American Workers (4.00 / 2)

I think a major factor in this is the low quality of housing built in the last 30 years. Nobody wants to live in poorly-designed places where there are only chain restaurants and strip malls. This has massively increased demand on denser areas which have seen price increases as a result.

by paving on Wed Sep 2nd, 2009 at 03:18:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young Workers (4.00 / 3)

Don't like to write this ...

Globalization of capital ultimately forces the globalization of labor.

Anyone under the age of 35 is facing a situation where they are 'bidding' for jobs in a high cost of living area against workers in a low cost of living area, in absolute terms. Workers in most of the world can achieve a 'Middle Class' lifestyle with a wage rate one tenth to one half of the rate necessary in the First World.

Major corporations could give a damn as their absolute profit can continue to rise as the overall, global, market for their goods increases, e.g., better to sell 100 of an item at $1 profit per rather than 20 at a $2 profit.

Any business 'stuck' in the high labor cost area will be forced against the wall, debilitating the local economy. But, again, the major corporations could give a damn: elimination of mid-sized companies only increases the market for the major corporation's goods.

Services are slightly, but only slightly, different. We're already seeing the 'low hanging fruit' services move to low cost areas. Over the next 20 years we'll see more service jobs move as the process moves up the 'food chain.'

This implies, for 35 and under First World workers, a change in their expectations of what a 'Middle Class' lifestyle means in physical and psychological terms or they are going to go through life frustrated and angry as their economic prospects remain static and/or dwindle.

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

by ATinNM on Wed Sep 2nd, 2009 at 12:21:55 PM EST

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young Workers (none / 0)

Any business 'stuck' in the high labor cost area will be forced against the wall, debilitating the local economy.

Although as I've seen with companies that try to move only part of the staff overseas - it costs more than it saves. The efficiency lost by not having the whole team in the same room, and for that matter not having a pool of qualified employees to pull from in the broader city, is a killer.

I think that's part of the story as to why the remaining middle class in the US is concentrating in particular cities, and even as American economic power declines, those cities will not decline nearly as fast despite their higher costs of living. They're the last bastions of non-disposable knowledge workers.

you are the media you consume.

by MillMan (millguy at gmail) on Wed Sep 2nd, 2009 at 12:47:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young Workers (none / 1)

The companies are doing this to increase short-term profits. They could easily afford to actually staff their companies with capable people, train employees within the company and provide adequate benefits to keep them.

Instead, they choose to squeeze blood from rocks and thus have to go outside more and more often for services that were commonly handled in-house in previous era's.

by paving on Wed Sep 2nd, 2009 at 03:21:06 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young Workers (none / 0)

I was thinking, which I didn't make clear, specifically of local goods manufacturers whose factories could be shipped overseas where the labor costs are lower.

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

by ATinNM on Wed Sep 2nd, 2009 at 08:36:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young Workers (4.00 / 2)

I suggest that it's our moral imperative to now globalize our expectation of workers and environmental rights. It is absurd to suggest that in a country with laws to protect workers, health, society and the environment that we can just do an end-run around that by going over a border.

If you want to sell to my market, you have to meet my standards. This is basic stuff.

by paving on Wed Sep 2nd, 2009 at 03:02:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young Workers (none / 1)

Global trade, global finance, global labour implies global governance.

But if even the EU cannot muster it (we have a monetary union without any expectation of common fiscal policy, employment policy, industrial policy other than market liberalization)...

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Sep 2nd, 2009 at 03:06:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young Workers (4.00 / 2)

This is not insurmountable. The same treaties and organizations that crafted the rules of international business and free trade could be utilized to craft and enforce rules in these other areas.

by paving on Wed Sep 2nd, 2009 at 03:23:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young Workers (4.00 / 4)

The obstacles, as usual are political and more precisely ideological. The conventional wisdom makes global governance nigh-unthinkable.

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Sep 2nd, 2009 at 03:24:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young Workers (4.00 / 3)

The EU is going to have to 'drive' this for anything to get done. Right now you've still got the political and social background to do it; the US is hopeless.

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

by ATinNM on Wed Sep 2nd, 2009 at 08:41:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young Workers (4.00 / 2)

Most likely this would turn entirely into a series of tarriffs. The political will and local ability to actually enforce laws against bad business practice does not seem to be in place across most of the world. At least in the US they pretend to comply, in visible ways - instead of buying off the cops and then blatantly disregarding the laws.

by Zwackus on Wed Sep 2nd, 2009 at 06:40:06 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young Workers (none / 1)

That's why God invented tariffs.

Smack a "labor rate adjustment" on their asses.

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

by ATinNM on Wed Sep 2nd, 2009 at 08:39:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young Workers (4.00 / 3)

And that may be what it takes to get people to pay attention, at least in America. Nobody really cares about factory workers outside of manufacturing states, but they'll care when H&R Block discovers they can sit Joe Indian in front of a piece of software and save 80% on operations.

Remember, nothing gets done in this country until the white-collar suburbanites and their precious little snowflakes start to feel the heat.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

by Drew J Jones (pedobear@pennstatefootball.com) on Wed Sep 2nd, 2009 at 07:09:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young Workers (none / 1)

They are starting to feel the heat now.

We really need a viable Left Wing alternative to the damn Democratic Party. I wish the Democratic Socialist of America were more of a force. If their next convention wasn't in Illinois I'd go just to scope 'em out.

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

by ATinNM on Wed Sep 2nd, 2009 at 08:50:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young Workers (4.00 / 2)

Not enough of them, though. With 80-85% of the country still insured, I think it remains a largely working-class and lower-middle-class issue. Until the generic, white-collar douchebags are the ones taking the hit, the public won't be motivated.

That's my theory, anyway. I think our side's view of the issue comes with more urgency that the average American feels on it. They might agree with us on the merits and on the specific proposals, but to them it remains an issue for "those people".

Not wholly unlike my theory of Ohio. Our side likes to think of Ohio as being all about NAFTA, NAFTA, NAFTA. Yet the anti-NAFTA candidates never win it. They might not like NAFTA (although I think you'll find the polling is decidedly mixed), but it's not the deciding issue.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

by Drew J Jones (pedobear@pennstatefootball.com) on Thu Sep 3rd, 2009 at 06:28:33 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young Workers (none / 1)

It's not a question of Reality©. It's a question of how people cognize Reality©. Put strangely, if people think witches are hexing their cows they are going to go around burning witches.

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

by ATinNM on Thu Sep 3rd, 2009 at 12:15:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young Workers (none / 0)

I wonder if that'll ever happen given the complexity of our tax laws and overall lack of agreement about their interpretation. The last person I spoke to from a tax prep firm had a masters in tax accounting and still had to research to be reasonably sure of herself. Still, I was pretty impressed with her abilities given the lack of help from the IRS's "professionals." Even the tax software, though amazing in most respects, is pretty lousy in others. It's screwed me up rather seriously a couple of times, not because I didn't understand how to use the software but because the software was just lacking in its ability to handle legal/regulatory options. The lack of understandable instruction and guidance in many areas is another problem for Joe Indian, though you still could be right. I wouldn't put it past H&R, et. al., to try that option given that the IRS already claims that it is not responsible for the guidance it gives. Tell it to the judge.

I can swear there ain't no heaven but I pray there ain't no hell. _ Blood Sweat & Tears

by Gringo (stargazing camel at aoldotcom) on Sat Sep 5th, 2009 at 02:27:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young Workers (none / 1)

ATinNM:

This implies, for 35 and under First World workers, a change in their expectations of what a 'Middle Class' lifestyle means in physical and psychological terms or they are going to go through life frustrated and angry as their economic prospects remain static and/or dwindle.

I've been aware of this since I was 15. Now I'm nearly 35 and fortunate but worried.

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Sep 3rd, 2009 at 06:37:58 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young American Workers (4.00 / 6)

Great post. I've been meaning to write about that AFL-CIO study all week, but have been much too busy to do so.

Their conclusions aren't news to me. Two years ago the California Budget Project published a study titled A Generation of Inequality, showing how rising inequality in California from 1979 onward has hit younger people particularly hard. I wrote about that at Calitics when the study was released, offered my own anecdotal experiences, and concluded that what we needed to resolve it was robust government action to provide job and educational opportunity, to relieve of us debts, and get us out of the oil economy.

Needless to say, none of that has been done over the last two years. Instead California is witnessing a sort of generational battle, where older generations that still have some semblance of prosperity and security, even if it is rapidly fading, have decided to pull up the ladder and close the gates to the younger generations and the programs, services, and jobs they need to thrive.

Earlier today I did write about a specific aspect of this - the fact that Americans under 30 are the strongest supporters of health care reform, even though people in every age group are being hit hard by the economic and health care crisis.

My conclusion was that America is experiencing a "boiling frog effect":

Older generations of Americans were socialized into a society where the economy generally worked, at least for most people middle-class and above. If you had a job, you could expect to have health care. You could expect to own a home, and enjoy a basic level of economic security.
That is not true today, not for any American outside the wealthiest percentiles, no matter what your age. But for folks who were socialized to think of America as the awesomest economy in the world, where you could expect to have security and health care if you held down a job, the present crisis snuck up on people the way heat snuck up on the frog in what had been a cold pot of water. They didn't expect it, and they still haven't adjusted their expectations to the new reality. They still see the present crisis as a temporary but difficult spot.
Us younger folks, though, have been thrown right into the boiling pot. We're entering an economy that doesn't offer anything of use to anyone who isn't rich, and we can see that right off the bat. Unlike older generations who may have seen the system as offering realistic opportunities for security and advancement when they first entered, we are under no such illusions. We know things are fucked and that we are not likely to see any meaningful improvement in our fortunes anytime soon.
Moreover, we're thrown into this crisis at a crucial moment in our lives - when we want to build lives, families, communities. The number of people I know who have delayed having children because of dire economic straits is staggering. And when you take away someone's future like that, you create a cohort of people who quite clearly and instinctively understand the need for fundamental, root and branch reform.

This is one clear example of where Obama has failed quite dramatically. He could have pursued policies designed to build a transgenerational coalition in favor of providing the change that would have restructured our economy on a more sound basis and addressed the needs of the many.

Instead he decided to double down on the status quo. As a result people have been motivated to cling even more tightly to what they have and become even less willing to accept new ideas, except for us younger folks who realize we have nothing else to lose.

And so the next decade will see an interesting set of political shifts, as the over 65 group exits the stage, as the Boomers begin to enter old age (a difficult old age, as they will lose their pensions and many will be forced to sell their homes), and as we "Millennials" start entering the halls of political power in greater numbers.

And the world will live as one

by Montereyan (robert at calitics dot com) on Fri Sep 4th, 2009 at 12:32:41 AM EST

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young American Workers (4.00 / 2)

This is one clear example of where Obama has failed quite dramatically. He could have pursued policies designed to build a transgenerational coalition in favor of providing the change that would have restructured our economy on a more sound basis and addressed the needs of the many.

This is fine, rhetorically, but in fact Obama knows who hired him and why and is not suicidal: He will do what he was hired to do and the items you mention are nowhere on his task list.

This is what I mean when I said national politics is a shell game. Obama has punked the "left" at least as thoroughly as G W Bush punked the "right."

The Fates are kind.

by Gaianne on Fri Sep 4th, 2009 at 02:39:14 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: On a Lost Decade for Young American Workers (4.00 / 3)

Great post and analysis and thanks for contributing.

The only thing I take issue with is blaming Obama, who really doesn't have the kind of power many younger people seem to hope/believe. Most people in our age group remember Clinton was President, then Bush got elected and now they have Obama. Thirty year-olds were 18 when Clinton got impeached (and effectively castrated politically). They simply have nothing by which to gauge effective Presidential administration.

Obama hasn't been in office long enough to properly staff half of the government's departments much less try and push through a fundamental economic shift. Look at the trouble he has getting even minor health care changes and you'll understand that he's truly not a King and that the political problems in the US are much deeper than the office of President.

He is approaching a timeline where he begins to have to start making real choices. There comes a time in each Presidency when the person in the role crystallizes and begins to have a real identity. It hasn't happened yet for Obama but that time is coming in the next 6 months. Until then he's really just the new guy and as you can see is being treated as a political character rather than an elected official and head of government.

That said, the original stimulus passed at the beginning of the year by Obama included a number of "slippery slope" provisions designed to move the country operationally in the direction you're describing. Health care is part of that because he understands that if you don't change how health care works in the US it will end up undermining everything else you try and do, the costs are so significant and the effects so dire to the aging baby boomers in particular.

The sad reality is that the US has the government it has chosen. It is truly representative of the population.

by paving on Fri Sep 4th, 2009 at 03:50:59 AM EST
[ Parent ]

How about (none / 1)

The Lost Decade of American work!

by Lasthorseman on Sat Sep 5th, 2009 at 05:42:53 PM EST

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