I thought yesterday seemed like any other day. Went to work. Came home. Went to bed. Nothing unusual. Or so I thought until I woke to see the news this morning. Youth unemployment at its highest for 17 years and not enough female executives in board rooms.
Does it feel like the 80’s all over again?
Whats the next step for the unemployment situation?
How about some good old fashioned privatisation to bank roll the recovery? Without wanting to paraphrase Old Mother Hubbard but we might be a little “light” on public utility sell offs. The harsh wake up that seems to be missed by a lot of people is that the situation is dire but even more so than in the past. Senior leaders have bought into the idea that, compared with previous generations, the current lost generation are unreliable, lazy and undereducated. Which does reek slightly of hypocrisy as the generation criticising were lambasted for the same issues, though its probably correct that things were always harder in the old days.
Short memories aside, this current generation needs a get out of jail card. There is no easy fix for them. They could expect to be looking at circa 2015 for any hint of a full sustainable recovery. While Generation 2010 is waiting for a miracle the backfill process will carry on every year. The irony is this; We have an issue with the employment market, the seeds of which can be traced to post war activity and equally bad economic decisions by the forefathers of this generation since that point. I could wax on about the importance of a good CV but that would be stating the obvious. Its really going to come down to attitude as well and proving to the person who interviews that they are not looking at “Generation Right Off”.
When Norman Tebbit infamously said get on your bike, this might now translate into get on, a bus to another town, a plane to another country or for the tech savvy, the computer and work smart from where you are. Recessions are where empires are built. Apparently.
Anecdote:
120 years ago my great grandfather walked with his brother from just a little north of Ladywood (2011, currently a black spot for unemployment) in the Midlands to work in the Steel Industry of South West Wales. It took them three days and two nights and they slept under hedges. They found work and the rest, as they, is history!