WUNRN
Young & Educated in
By LIZ ALDERMAN - Published: November 15,
2013
MADRID — Alba Méndez, a
24-year-old with a master’s degree in sociology, sprang out of bed nervously
one recent morning, carefully put on makeup and styled her hair. Her thin hands
trembled as she clutched her résumé on her way out of the tiny room where a
friend allows her to stay rent free.
She had an interview that
day for a job at a supermarket. It was nothing like the kind of professional
career she thought she would have after finishing her education. But it was a
rare flicker of opportunity after a series of temporary positions, applications
that went nowhere and employers who increasingly demanded that young people
work long, unpaid stretches just to be considered for something permanent.
Her parents were imploring
her to return home to the
“We’re in a situation that
is beyond our control,” Ms. Méndez said. “But that doesn’t stop the feelings of
guilt. On the bad days, it’s ” really hard to get out of
bed. I ask myself, ‘What did I do wrong?'
The question is being asked
by millions of young Europeans. Five years after the economic crisis struck
the Continent, youth unemployment has climbed to staggering levels
in many countries: in September, 56 percent in
SEE GRAPH OF YOUTH
UNEMPLOYMENT ACROSS
Those are Great Depression-like
rates of unemployment, and there is no sign that European economies, still
barely emerging from recession, are about to generate the jobs necessary to
bring those Europeans into the work force soon, perhaps in their lifetimes.
Dozens of interviews with
young people around the Continent reveal a creeping realization that the
European dream their parents enjoyed is out of reach. It is not that
George Skivalos, 28, had to
move back in with his mother two years ago in
Instead, many in the
troubled south are carving out a simple existence for themselves in a new
European reality. They must decide whether to stay home, with the protection of
family but a dearth of jobs. Or they can travel to
For the European Union,
addressing the issue has become a political as well as an economic challenge at
a time of expanding populist discontent
with the leadership in
Chancellor Angela Merkel of
But economists said the
program by itself was unlikely to put more than a bandage on a gaping wound.
For members of the generation that came of age since the financial storm of
2008, promises of future aid and future growth only highlight questions about
when, or whether, they will be able to make up for the lost years.
“We hope 2014 will be a
year of recovery,” said Stefano Scarpetta, the director of employment, labor
and social affairs at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development. “But we are still looking at a very large number of youth who will
have endured a long period of extreme difficulty. This will have a long-lasting
effect on an entire generation.”
A Job, but Far From Home
Soon after her 23rd
birthday four years ago, Melissa Abadía made a wrenching decision: She would
leave her close-knit family in
“When I got on the plane, I
was crying,” Ms. Abadía, a bright, ebullient woman, recalled. “But I had to
decide: Should I fight for something back home that makes no sense, or get out
of there and make a life for myself?”
Despite five years of
training in nursing in her hometown,
Ilvy Njiokiktjien for The
New York Times
Unable to find work as a nurse, the job she
was trained for, Ms. Abadía left
It is a sign of the plight
of her generation that simply having a job and a measure of independence makes
her one of the lucky ones — never mind homesickness, dashed dreams of a very
different career and a gradual acceptance that her life will probably never be
the one she expected to live.
“Of course, I hate the fact
that I have to do this,” she said, speaking in somber tones. “Leaving your
country should be a decision, not an obligation.”
Finding only unpaid nursing
internships and a temporary nightclub job in
For the first time, she
experienced the shock of being an immigrant. Having arrived in
She soon found
better-paying work at the clothing shop, near the
She spent two years
bouncing between short-term contracts, which employers have sharply increased
during the crisis to cut costs and avoid the expensive labor protections
granted to permanent employees.
In some countries,
especially those with the highest youth unemployment rates, short-term
contracts are nothing more than opportunities for employers to take advantage
of the weak labor market.
But when used by employers
as intended — to give experience to young people who otherwise could not get a
start — they can lead to steady work. That was the case with Ms. Abadía, whose
employer eventually turned her temporary job into a permanent contract with
benefits overseeing the store’s biggest stockroom.
Ilvy Njiokiktjien for The
New York Times
Ms. Abadía closing up the stockroom. "I can pay my rent, save money," she said.
On one level, having even
that kind of employment is a victory in today’s
“The day I signed a
permanent contract was the best day of my life,” she said one recent weeknight,
beaming as she sipped a Coke at a bustling pub.
“It is almost impossible to
get one now in
But because of her work
hours, she still does not qualify for the
Discussing the path that
had brought her to this point, Ms. Abadía became suddenly pensive. Adjusting to
a life far from home in a job beneath her skills has been harder than she
imagined.
“I gave up the thought of
working as a nurse long ago,” she said. “With this job, I’m so tired sometimes
that I can’t move. I don’t know what a weekend is anymore.”
Above all, Ms. Abadía still
yearns for
“I miss them so much,” Ms.
Abadía said. While she had gotten used to
Last Christmas, she slipped
into a mild depression alone in her apartment, knowing that her family was
gathered around the dinner table back home. In her worst moments, Ms. Abadía
said, she thinks about getting a one-way ticket home.
“But when you think
properly about it, you realize you may see your family, but you are not going
to find a job,” she said. “After two months, maybe you will go back to working
in a club in the evenings, and after three you’ll realize, ‘I can’t handle it
anymore; I need to leave again.' ”
As she sat in her
apartment, she discussed her situation with two colleagues from the store, both
from
“Recently, I heard
criticism that people like us are running away,” Ms. Abadía said. “We didn’t
run away. We left because the economic situation and the politicians pushed
us.”
“If they don’t fix things,
they are going to lose a couple generations of smart, young people,” Ms. Abadía
added as her friends nodded in agreement. “And then what will happen to the
country that’s left behind?”
That question is weighing
on European leaders. An estimated 100,000 university graduates have left Spain,
and hundreds of thousands more from Europe’s crisis-hit countries have gone to
Germany, Britain, and the Nordic states for jobs in engineering, science and
medicine. Many others have gone farther afield to
The current migration “is
mostly the skilled part of the population,” said Massimiliano Mascherini, a
research manager at Eurofound, a European
As part of the
employment-promotion program discussed Tuesday, European Union leaders promised
to guarantee job offers and internships to jobless young people, and to bolster
growth in innovation and research. They also pledged initiatives to help young
people find work outside their countries with cross-border vocational training.
But those pledges may be
hard to carry out, economists say. “They have raised expectations, but they
need to deliver,” Mr. Scarpetta of the O.E.C.D. said. “It is a challenge for
A Cycle of Sporadic Work
In
But when she graduated,
Like thousands of young
people hit by the crisis, Ms. Méndez soon found herself underemployed,
grappling with a revolving door of temporary contracts that came with few
benefits, lower pay than permanent jobs, and the risk of being laid off with little
recourse.
For many young people in
Young people caught in that
cycle are at the edge of a growing category that economists call NEETs: those
who are not in employment, education or training. According to Eurofound, as
many as 14 million young Europeans are out of work and disengaged, costing
European Union member states an estimated €153 billion (about $206 billion) a
year in welfare benefits and lost production.
Ms. Méndez faced that kind
of unsettling risk as she sought to secure any paying job. She went to a
sandwich chain but wound up working a two-week tryout with no salary. A luxury
Spanish hotel chain expected her to do unpaid training for two months, and then
work another two-month trial period without pay or a guarantee of a permanent
job.
Occasionally it was overwhelming.
“Sometimes,” she whispered, “it feels as if life is not really worth it.”
Her inability to forge a
career worried Ms. Méndez, who could not even begin to think of making a home
or a family. To gain experience, she was making plans to form a cooperative to
study social issues like gender equality and sell reports to public
institutions. She also volunteered to help abused women and attended meetings
of the grass-roots movement Youth Without a Future to assist other young people
exploited in temporary jobs.
When she went to her job
interview with the supermarket chain, at the company headquarters on the
outskirts of
Not getting the job would
mean “losing my independence and the whole life that I’ve tried to build for
myself over six years,” she said.
A few weeks later she
received word: She would be hired to stock grocery shelves and run a cash
register, but only on a three-month contract with variable hours and no
guarantee of renewal.
The monthly salary of €800
(about $1,080) would allow her to buy basics and avoid returning to live with
her parents, but not cover much else.
“It’s not like my situation
has improved greatly,” Ms. Méndez said. “I still hope to work as a sociologist.
I know that as the days go by, this work will start to get me down.”
It remains hard for her to
envision a brighter future.
“But I have to be strong,”
Ms. Méndez said. “It’s the only thing I can do.”
In
She rolled up her sleeve
and revealed a single word in blue cursive that she had tattooed on her forearm
last year: “valiente,” the Spanish term for brave.
“I did this to remember that I must keep dancing until the end,” Ms. Abadía said. “I was forced to leave my country and everyone I love just so I can have a life. But I need to keep dancing and trying and getting stronger. If I do that, someday, I can conquer the world.”
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WUNRN
ILO
- International Labour Organization
http://www.ilo.org/global/publications/books/forthcoming-publications/WCMS_190354/lang--en/index.htm
GLOBAL EMPLOYMENT TRENDS FOR WOMEN - GLOBAL REPORT -
WOMEN FEEL LOCAL IMPACT - CRISIS
Global
Employment Trends for Women
An analysis of five key
gender gaps in the labour market
December 15, 2012 - This
report examines the conditions of women’s engagement in the labour market, by
estimating and analysing five key gaps, or gender differentials, between women
and men which disadvantage women: in unemployment, in employment, in labour
force participation, in vulnerability, and in sectoral and occupational
segregation.
A trend toward
convergence has come to a halt
The gaps are examined in
terms of their long-run trends, over the past decade for the economic
indicators of unemployment, employment, vulnerability and segregation, and over
the past two decades for the slower moving demographic and behavioural
indicator of labour force participation. The economic indicators are also
examined in terms of more recent trends over the course of the global financial
and economic crisis of the past five years.
Globally, gender gaps in
the economic indicators of unemployment and employment trended towards
convergence in the period 2002 to 2007, but with reversals coinciding with the
period of the crisis from 2008 to 2012 in many regions. The gender gap in labour
force participation, examined over a longer period of the last two decades,
shows convergence in the 1990s, but little to no convergence in the 2000s, with
in creasing gaps in some regions like South Asia and Central and Eastern
Europe. Demographic and behavioural change appears to have added to the impact
of the crisis, to reverse convergence in regions harder hit by the crisis, such
as the advanced economies and Central and Eastern Europe.
Economic indicators of job
quality, such as gender gaps in vulnerability and occupational segregation show
significant gaps for 2012. An indicator for sectoral segregation could be
observed over a long run period of two decades, and showed women crowding into
services sectors, in both developed and developing countries.
The report shows that
reducing gender gaps can significantly improve economic growth and per capita
incomes. Remedial policy then has to address the reversals in convergence. And
it has to address the complex set of economic, demographic and behavioural
factors leading to the increase in gender-based gaps in the labour market.
29 million jobs lost and
still to be recovered
The
crisis
The immediate context of
this report is the financial and economic crisis. The policy stimulus of 2009
gave way to austerity in 2011-12, that in 2012 led to a double dip in GDP
growth in some countries. The 29 million net jobs lost during the global
economic crisis have not been recovered. The Eurozone crisis combined with the
“fiscal cliff” threat in the United States, have generated downside risks to
growth. The IMF’s downgrade of global GDP growth for 2013, from 3.8 to 3.6 per
cent, has led the ILO to estimate that an additional 2.5 million jobs could be
lost in 2013 as result.
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