To the Editor:
Re “Educated, Unemployed and Frustrated” (Op-Ed, March 21):
I would like to congratulate the young Matthew C. Klein for exposing a distressing phenomenon that we, the parents, are too embarrassed to admit. After spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on our children’s educations, we have little to brag about.
Many of our children are feeling desperate about their futures, and we are feeling as though we have failed them.
As a social worker, I often work with clients who have seemingly insurmountable obstacles to employment. They are people without hope. I often find myself wondering, is this the future for my own children and their friends?
Laura Donkin
Bethesda, Md., March 21, 2011
To the Editor:
Matthew C. Klein writes about the job search frustrations of those under 25. For the 25-to-30 age bracket, it doesn’t get easier.
Many of my friends and I are unemployed. There is no pattern to indicate who will find a job. World-class education, enviable résumés, internships, volunteer work and excellent people skills offer no guarantees. Nor do teaching English abroad and seeking even higher education. I know because I have tried both.
The solution: Don’t be ashamed to work even if the pay and position are lower than you hoped. Pride cannot pay the rent.
Michelle Bennett
Chattanooga, Tenn., March 21, 2011
To the Editor:
As a 22-year-old college graduate seeking employment in the seemingly nonexistent entry-level job market, I can’t help but notice the profound disrespect inherent in the expectation by some that young people like me should spend two to three years “gaining experience” (filing, copying and answering the phones) in unpaid or underpaid internships at either nonprofit or for-profit enterprises.
A slow economy is no justification for placing financial and emotional pressures on young people, many of whom cannot afford to spend several years with little or no compensation.
Emily A. May
Takoma Park, Md., March 21, 2011
The writer is a recent graduate of Middlebury College.
To the Editor:
As a sporadically self-employed graduate of elite schools, I found that Matthew C. Klein’s Op-Ed essay hit close to home. Skills to succeed in this market are rarely gleaned at summer internships. Instead, it is the ability to hustle and to think creatively that can make the difference between independence and your parents’ basement.
I will not be marching with any Egyptian-inspired American protest over lack of jobs until I can no longer establish my own path, either by a traditional career or one of my own making. Meanwhile, I am optimistic that the skills I gained supporting myself—networking, persistence, innovation—are desirable in a traditional work environment.
Let’s hope the current “lost generation” proves instead to be the most driven and imaginative this country has ever seen. I plan to do my part.
Marina Gibbons
San Francisco, March 21, 2011
To the Editor:
While Matthew C. Klein provides an interesting narrative regarding how surging youth unemployment challenges governments around the world (regardless of regime type), I’d like to add two important points.
First, there is a profound difference between structural and cyclical unemployment among youth. While some recent college graduates in the United States have had a difficult time finding work, this is likely a cyclical phenomenon and profoundly different from the structural unemployment among youth that has dented economic growth in countries in the Middle East.
Second, we should look at how different countries’ labor policies have fared in keeping youth unemployment rates relatively low. For example, German policies to promote job sharing among graduates have led to job development in key industries and a lower youth unemployment rate.
Erik Tollefson
Minneapolis, March 21, 2011
To the Editor:
While I sympathize with young college graduates who feel misled about how eagerly the workplace would welcome them, I can’t help thinking that those of us at the far end of the worker-age timeline are facing a far more taxing problem. Ask almost anyone over 55 who has been laid off: We are the unemployable in a society that values youth, beauty and Ivy League degrees far more than reliability, wisdom and experience.
We are a decade or so from Social Security and Medicare benefits, and our unemployment checks have long expired. Now we are taking ever-so-thin slices from our savings, canceling unaffordable health insurance policies, patching up the old car and hurting for our job-seeking children.
These were to be our golden years, well earned after 30 years of toil. But now we are past our “sell by” dates, offering ourselves at deeply discounted rates but still stuck here on the shelf, hoping for someone to notice.
Marti Davis
Knoxville, Tenn., March 21, 2011
