The Dead End Kids - Unemployment rate for young Americans exploded to 52%

[CorkyC]

The number of young Americans without a job has exploded to 52.2 percent - a post-World War II high, according to the Labor Dept. - meaning millions of Americans are staring at the likelihood that their lifetime earning potential will be diminished and, combined with the predicted slow economic recovery, their transition into productive members of society could be put on hold for an extended period of time.

The number represents the flip-side to the Labor Dept.'s report that the employment rate of 16-to-24 year olds has eroded to 47.83 percent -- the lowest ratio of working young Americans in that age group, including all but those in the military, since WWII.

And worse, without a clear economic recovery plan aimed at creating entry-level jobs, the odds of many of these young adults -- aged 16 to 24, excluding students -- getting a job and moving out of their parents' houses are long. Young workers have been among the hardest hit during the current recession -- in which a total of 9.5 million jobs have been lost.

"It's an extremely dire situation in the short run," said Heidi Shierholz, an economist with the Washington-based Economic Policy Institute. "This group won't do as well as their parents unless the jobs situation changes."

I can certainly relate to this article. Just wondering, how is it for the kids who are graduating college? I never did make it to a university, mostly because of the money. The debt was just too scary for me. But now that I'm older, and I know how much it sucks to have to sell your labor, I find myself wondering "what if...?"

I have a friend who recently graduated from Med School. He's a doctor now. He told me he owes something like $170,000 for all the time he spent in school. It was crazy too, because when he graduated he wouldn't go look for a job. His girlfriend finally had to throw him out of the house for a few days!! All he had to do was call some number and they sent his info out all over the place, and the next day he had something like 8 people chasing after him trying to GIVE him a job.

Needless to say, as something of a dead end kid myself, I was a little jealous...