Comment 52800

By jasonaallen (registered) - website | Posted December 07, 2010 at 22:56:47

Alessandra - Thanks for your comment. It's exactly that feeling of frustration and hopelessness that I think needs to be the subject of serious public policy discussion.

And even if you had the option of selling your labour to the lowest bidder, the types of jobs that would be created, and the remuneration you would get would foster as much anger and resentment as being unemployed in the first place.

To my mind, the crisis of youth unemployment is on par with the massive disenfranchisement of black men in the U.S. It's a major social problem that nobody is really talking about.

And like I said, the solutions aren't clear cut. Massive job creation/spending programs are unsustainable and mandatory retirement would either be politically untenable, or plunge older workers into poverty at the other end of their lives.

I'm not sure what the answers are, but it's a policy debate that needs to happen before somebody comes along with a 'clear solution' that involves scapegoating a particular group and blaming them for the malaise. Many young people will be too smart to fall for that particular brand of idiocy, but if enough are swayed, it could be the recipe for serious social conflict.

Whatever you do, don't mention the Red Hill Valley Parkway!

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