Generation Y, the economy and the media

Schmidt’s reference to labour shortages during boom times has to be weighed against the issue of declining apprenticeships and the growing number of students missing out on university places. Indeed, the labour market conditions facing young people have been much more unstable than those faced by the baby boomers. Employers used WorkChoices as a means of extracting every last cent of profit out of the boom cycle, particularly in the hospitality and retail sectors of the economy. Is there any doubt that those who used WorkChoices to slash conditions and pay for younger Australians in the good times will now seek to externalise the impact of the global financial crisis through firing young Australians?

The youth unemployment statistics paint a bleak picture. In June 1992 seasonally adjusted unemployment for 15 to 24-year-olds hit 19.5 per cent. It took 16 years of unprecedented economic sunshine for this to reach a “low” of 7.8 per cent in August 2008, and the numbers are creeping upwards yet again. How can commentators glibly maintain that Generation Y is pampered where youth unemployment rates hover around two and a half times the national average. Young Australians were clearly facing difficulties entering the workforce, even in the supposedly good times. Sadly, perhaps one of the greatest barriers is a generation of older Australians who have lost touch with the ethos of the fair go.

Undoubtedly Generation Y has not yet been financially challenged to a great degree, but this is not to say things have been easy, or they have had things all their own way. There have been problems, and the developing financial crisis will ease some of those problems (housing affordability), while making others worse (unemployment). Is it any wonder then that the overwhelming attitude of young people towards the economic crisis reported in media stories has been of apathy? This also bears testament to the fact that things could be worse for Generation Y. They largely haven’t bought into the Australian real estate Ponzi scheme. They haven’t believed those who have told them that if they toe the corporate line, they will have jobs for life. They are turning their backs on unsustainable work practices, and unsustainable lifestyles. They have looked to each other for financial and moral support.

Indeed as George Megalogenis wrote in his blog on March 7, 2009, in The Australian, it is the Baby Boomers who are on the “wrong side of history”. “They are too young to retire, but too old to make up their present losses." When the economic tide eventually turns it will be Generation Y that must rise to the challenge of building a more sustainable future. From those mired in debt, to those struggling to enter the housing and employment markets, there will be no alternative.