Millennials want to be job-hopping generation. But economy won’t let them

Millennials want to be job-hopping generation. But economy won’t let them(washingtonpost.com)

8 points by shoeless 11 years ago | 8 comments

Isn't it just a symptom of how the job market works nowadays? This is not even limited to USA.

There aren't many jobs where you can move up without moving out, or funding your own company. The information era worker is more like an entrepreneur (seeking opportunities where he can apply knowledge/experience and negotiating pay, working conditions) than the industrial era worker.

angersock 11 years ago |

"But he doesn’t mind. Buying a house. Investing in a retirement plan. A steady job. Gribbin has little faith in the trappings that once were associated with stability and a secure future. “Most of my peers would never put their trust in investments like that,” he says matter-of-factly. “Why pour all your money into something, when the value can so easily disappear and you lose it all?”"

That's really what it comes down to, doesn't it?

Gone is the perception that a company will take care of you, that there is anything worth saving up for, because any student of recent history is acutely aware of how arbitrarily things can be taken away--because of a shitty cop, because of a medical bill, because of "because fuck you that's why".

Things are a lot less stable than they appear.

JoeAltmaier 11 years ago | |

Wow that's cynical. Insurance can deal with most issues. Saving continues to be a buffer against unemployment. Invest in predictable securities and you can do ok, at least not lose. If a generation has that short a view, then they're destined for not-greatness. Because doing worthwhile things takes time, and short-sightedness won't get you there.

drivingmenuts 11 years ago | | |

Well, yes, you can buy your insurance and then the company refuses to pay out because ... arcane reasons. Savings goes into a mega-bank that goes bankrupt in a scandal of home mortgages or something like. Securities ... run by sharks who would sell you your own mother given half a chance.

Seriously, if you're not paranoid, you haven't been paying attention for the last decade.

The grim truth is that there is no alternative.

angersock 11 years ago | | |

Those are all true statements, but you're overlooking some key realities.

Savings and insurance won't save you from a lot of complicated costs that come out of healthcare, which you can't bound cleanly. You can end up with a lot of extra costs (due to missing work and so forth) if you are stuck following your insurance provider's network. Preventative care (even normal, regular checkups) is nontrivial to obtain unless you have good insurance and the time and money to use it. The "family doctor" doesn't exist for most millenials--recall that the system was so fucked they passed legislation to let young adults stay on their parents' insurance until their mid-20s.

Investing is nice if you've got the money and assets to spare, and even so consider the general perceived trustworthiness of these investment funds; 2008 wasn't that long ago.

Then there's student loans--if you got a decent education (or even a worthless one that was marketed well), you're looking at tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of dollars in debt, due monthly, no excuses.

So, go add the cost of cars, the cost of student (or house, or car, or whatever) loan maintenance, the cost of insurance, the cost of having a phone and internet (and maybe cable). We've (more really, our parents and the Boomers) constructed a society and civilization with way too much "fuck you got mine" and way too little upwards mobility (or even security!). You should realize that the deck is stacked very heavily against people not born with a spoon in their mouth.

It's not impossible by any stretch--I'm lucky enough to be managing myself, for example--but you have to consistently make a lot of choices that are at best difficult and at worst impossible in modern society.

So, yeah, I'm cynical.

snowwrestler 11 years ago | |

I think this is at least partly just the angst and cynicism of youth. A sizable portion of the baby boomers felt the same way when they were kids, and look at them now.

People who plan for the future will win the future. People who never expect to make it the future will be surprised when they get there (maybe a good surprise, but maybe a bad one).

koberstein 11 years ago | |

Well, when you "pour all your money" into rent, you get z-e-r-o return on investment. Sure, the value of a purchased house can decrease but, at the end of the day, you have to live somewhere. May as well build equity while you're at it...