The Recession Kids Grow Up (Slate)

How has the Recession shaped the kids who grew up in it? Peter Fulham, who was in high school when the financial tailspin started in 2008, writes that the impact is not all that different than it’s been for older generations — it’s simply more pronounced. In 2011, 4.1 million Americans aged 16-24 were unemployed, an unemployment rate of 18.3 percent, more than twice the national average. Today’s college graduates enter a job market with very few opportunities and, moreover, many of the traditional white collar jobs have lost their appeal. His generation won’t end up on Wall Street, he writes. Instead, they may seek to fulfill those childhood ambitions many generations have abandoned, becoming teachers, writers, activists. “I hope,” he concludes, “we’ll become people who actually make things.”