Obama's Enemies List: A Growing List of Obama's Enemies

Ask anyone above the age of 50 whether “young worker” has become an oxymoron, and they’ll say yes. Now, there is hard data to back up the assertion. In the teeth of the Great Recession, recent college graduates — those in the Millennial generation, born in the 1980s and 1990s — are floundering in a hellish job market. Recent Census figures show that the employment rate among young adults is 55.3 percent, the lowest rate since the end of World War II. One-in-five young adults live in poverty. Teen unemployment stands at 25 percent. The Associated Press dubs it “the lost generation.” But is it really? And if so, who’s to blame? Putting aside the media’s victim meme, there are many reasons for my generation’s predicament (I’m 25), plenty of them a direct result of our own choices. It’s a given that macroeconomic forces beyond the power of an individual are curtailing Millennials’ opportunities for financial stability. The job market is flooded with older, more experienced workers jockeying for the same entry-level positions that college graduates desire. The cost of basic needs — groceries, housing, clothing, and gas — has spiked. Wages are stagnant. Due to the federal government’s spendthrift ways, my generation faces a debt-saturated future. But young people also are lagging because of self-inflicted wounds: Massive student-loan debt, high consumer credit card balances, frequent changing of jobs because of boredom, poor work ethic, entitlement attitudes, heightened standard-of-living expectations, preoccupation with self-esteem, and delay of marriage and parenthood. Consider: In 2009, the average four-year college graduate owed $24,000 in student-loan debt. That’s sustainable if a student leaves school with a degree in a high-demand field — say, nursing or engineering — paying a decent salary right out of the gate. But for liberal arts majors who often spend the first year (if not more) of post-college life waiting tables, it’s financial hara-kiri. It doesn’t stop at student loans, though. Graduates leave school, on average , with thousands in credit card debt. Throw in an auto loan, and the debt-to-income ratio goes off the charts. It’s tough to get ahead in that financial scenario. Do we care? Not really. In fact, the debt burden gives Millennials a self-esteem boost. “Researchers found that the more credit card and college loan debt held by young adults aged 18 to 27, the higher their self-esteem and the more they felt like they were in control of their lives,” according to a study published by Ohio State University. Faced with no job prospects, 20-somethings often go to graduate school, amassing even more student-loan debt. Those who do secure a job are more likely to switch because they’re bored or hope to find the mythical perfect job. “They have high, unrealistic expectations,” Lee Jenkins, a manager partner of Atlanta Capital Group, told USA Today . “And many of them don’t manage money very well.” In many cases, there is the expectation of a fat salary in exchange for phoned-in job performance — and we’re not afraid to admit it. A Pew Research Center study found that Baby Boomers’ favorite identifying mark was their work ethic, while only 5 percent of my generation reported the same. In contrast, 24 percent of Millennials chose “technology use,” 11 percent “music/pop” culture,” and 7 percent “liberal/tolerant” as their mark of distinction. I can think of many things I’d like to be remembered for. “Technology use” isn’t one of them. A New York Times story from 2009 showed that many college graduates are turning down positions that don’t meet a set of unrealistic expectations. One Syracuse University graduate rejected a $50,000-a-year job at a consulting firm “because he hadn’t connected well with his potential bosses.” Connection is for your spouse or cell phone, not your supervisor in a more-than-decent-paying job. In a comprehensive review of Millennials’ jobs plight, the Atlantic concluded that my generation has high income expectations mixed with low work expectations: