Recession Youth, or “Generation OMG”, Are Losing Jobs, Starting Uni

Those with a stock portfolio, a mortgage, a six-figure bonus or a job in the car industry are the high-profile victims of the recession thus far, but what about the yoof? Those spotty oiks whose only assets are a ringtone subscription package and a line in pithy scorn? The New York Times casts them in these usual patronising terms, dubbing them “Generation OMG”, as if young people saw the recession and a particularly scandalous photo posted on Facebook in the same light.

This generation is going to be, they say, like a wifi-enabled version of the “Silent Generation”, a term coined by Time magazine to describe people born during the Great Depression. They were characterised by a lack of zeal to accomplish the gung-ho stuff their parents had, stuff that reads like the spines of turn of the century adventure novels: “Few youngsters today want to mine diamonds in South Africa, ranch in Paraguay, climb Mount Everest, find a cure for cancer, sail around the world or build an industrial empire.” The equivalent today would presumably be: “Few youngsters today want to create vast multinational banks in Scotland, found internet companies without a business plan in San Jose, build hubristic new cities in the Gulf, or find a cure for cancer”.

Instead, they suggest the children will be feeling more civic duty during this recession, pointing to increases in signups to Peace Corps and Teach For America. In the 1930s, young people were taught to be prudent, turning into conformist parents that bred risk-taking offspring. Now, despite a pervasive feeling incubated by the age of credit of being able to have anything, it’s being suggested that this new generation will be equally prudent.

The article comes alongside a wave of warnings about the impact of the recession on The Kids. The Children’s Society warned last month about the psychological impact of a nation of worried parents; sociologists found that “with incomes dropping, parents fought more and drank more, leaving children bewildered and often alone” during the Great Depression. It’s been suggested that this generation will be less entrepreneurial, with a US poll finding that thanks to recession fears, fewer teenagers want to start their own business. And the Local Government Association is warning against a “lost generation” of young people created by the recession, who can’t get work thanks to lack of training and education; unemployment amongst 18-25s was already rocketing even before the recession really started to bite. In America, 2.2m under-30s have lost their jobs since the recession began.

University is probably a good bet right now, insulating oneself from the recession with a womb of skills consolidation, pub golf and bad sex – applications for next year are up 8%. But graduate recruitment is turning into a scrum for positions, and emergency plans are being drawn up to provide graduates with work. And while some go off to try and better themselves, others are sat on the sofa – we’ve seen how video games are surging in popularity as young people have less money to do properly fun stuff, and now an increasingly large proportion of TV audiences are in the 18-24 bracket. 

While it’s heartening to see evidence of the pampered Gen-X “worker” having to do some hard graft rather than lounge in a beanbag discussing last night’s Friends, there’s going to need to be some concerted public works and training programs to help young people get into work in the first place. Paid community service could work, but needs to be alongside education and not be presented, as the Mail inevitably does, as the only thing preventing a wave of violent youth crime.

Posted by Ben Beaumont-Thomas in Hot Money | March 10, 2009 2:07PM |