Thursday, September 22, 2011

Only 55% of Americans under 30 have jobs

This is the lowest amount of people under 30 with jobs since World War II right now.

Begin quote:
Unemployment among young adults is at its highest point since World War II, new data show. And it's having a disconcerting impact on the trajectory of their careers and lives.
"We have a monster jobs problem, and young people are the biggest losers," Andrew Sum, an economist with the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University told the Associated Press.
Just 55.3 percent of people between 16 and 29 were employed in 2010 on average, the according to new figures released by the Census Bureau. That represents an enormous drop from 67.3 percent in 2000. Among teens the figure was less than 30 percent.
The result? Young people are delaying taking the steps that traditionally represent movement into adult life: moving to a new place, getting married, and buying a new home. Just 4.4 percent of 18- to 34-year olds moved across state lines -- again, the lowest level since World War Two (though such moves have been declining since long before the recent downturn, it's worth noting). Roughly 5.9 million Americans between 25 and 34 lived with their parents. That's up by 25 percent since before the recession began in late 2007. (Men are nearly twice as likely as women to move back in with Mom and Dad.) The marriage rate for those between 25 and 34 fell to 44.2 percent, also a new low. And home ownership declined for the fourth straight year. end quote from:

Battered by downturn, young Americans putting off adulthood

 I thought the late 1970s and early 1980s were bad but it appears now that right now is the worst it has gotten since world war II. So, I guess expect kids to go to college and stay in college as long as they can and then if they can't get jobs expect them to go bankrupt from their student loans and live at home with the folks.

One of the methods I used from the early 1980s when I was married and raising three kids from 1980 to 1985 was to buy inexpensive land with our savings and build an A-Frame on beautiful land without electricity and home school our kids for about 5 years. But I was thinking with the present cost of building materials you might have to buy an Alaskan Saw or Alaskan Mill (which is a huge 6 foot blade chain saw with rollers for milling timber) into your own building wood from trees on your own land. Then you would have to have your home milled wood approved by a building inspector for building in order to keep your costs down these days on timber. But you might still have to buy plywood sheeting or exterior of some sort for your house unless you were building a log home. I'm just trying to think of how to keep building costs down these days because land is actually pretty cheap right now everywhere so now building materials to build your own place to live is the whole thing now. Another way to go would be to buy an inexpensive trailer and put it on your land where it is still legal to do that and then while you are living there build your home. Even if you are collecting unemployment insurance you could still in your spare time from looking for work build your own home. I saved about 60,000 dollars in rent by buying land 2 1/2 acres for $8000 in 1980 that had a spring and a beautiful view of Mt.Shasta at 4000 feet in elevation with no electricity. We had a real wilderness family adventure for about 4 to 5 years and spent the winters cross country skiing and building snowmen and sledding and the summers swimming in pristine mountain lakes and rivers and hiking in the Cascade Wilderness. It was an idyllic time. If life gives you lemons make lemonade or lemon pie. Don't let life crush you.

Another way many of my friends went then is with a Teepee made of canvas or a yurt. Some yurts are double walled and are especially nice with a place for a wood stove in the center and a skylight dome above. However, you do have to find somewhere that it is legal to put it. However, if there already is another permanent structure on the land it can be there as a temporary structure that only needs a deck to be built to put in on. However, before you buy something like this and set it up make sure it is both safe and legal to do it. For example, in the city in a suburb it might not be legal. And in some places in the country it might not be safe because of bears or grizzly bears who can easily tear through the canvas of a yurt to get at your food or you if you resist. So that is something to think about too. However, a wilderness experience if this is something you love might be just what you need about now.

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