Alan Greenspan: It's the Gen-Xers Fault They're Out of Work

[xambrosiiax]

Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said in a recent interview that the U.S. is suffering from an unproductive youth movement in the labor force, and that companies don’t want to hire these young folk. Greenspan also said that U.S. companies would be better off hiring immigrants.

I yield the floor to FOX Business Director of News Ray

Comments

[popehippo]

There is, sadly, much truth in what he says. The degradation of our educational system, thanks to a lack of accountability and a general resistance to innovation, is well-documented.

Who's fucking fault is THAT, I wonder.

[intrikate88]

Preeeeeeeeeecisely.

[archanglrobriel]

Exactly this. I -wanted- a much better education than I could -afford- and that goes about triple for my daughter whose education makes my late 80's version of public high school look like "the good old days."

[celtic_thistle]

ikr, they act like Gen X'ers DECIDED to be born into a world fucked up by their parents' generation. :|

[intrikate88]

Seriously? SERIOUSLY? Everyone I know in their twenties is desperate to work as much as possible. I and several of my friends would cheerfully work 60+ hour workweeks just to maintain a good flow of work. If I was hiring people, I'd mostly hire recent college grads, because they're desperate to please and aren't aware how to demand more perks yet like all the older people who are often completely oblivious to what the job market will offer them.

[deathchibi]

No kidding. :(

[popehippo]

Seriously. If anything, the people I've worked with who were older than me were less desperate and worried about stuff like retirement and medical than the 20-year-olds that I've worked with. I wish the stereotype of the 'wasting money on booze and sex 20s stage!' would just go rot in the dirt because from everything I've seen since I hit that age, it's all horse shit.

[anese]

Aren't we more gen y though? 21-25? Gen x is like people in their thirties and forties

[very_vogue]

The Baby Boomers were better

[thepikey]

1) Yes, the American education system is in decline. Maybe we should fund it? You know, invest in our children so they can better compete with people around the world? (Back in the day the Boomers didn't have high quality educational systems in China/India/etc to compete with, so of course they looked better in comparison.*)
2) No, the American worker is not LESS productive. We are vastly more productive than the Boomers - we however do not get to reap the fruits of that productivity, all the added value goes to management and shareholders. CEO compensation has skyrocketed, while worker compensation has stagnated. You're drawing the wrong conclusion from the data.
3) You really think food stamps and health care are a drag on the American worker? Really? (Bootstraps!)

*This comment refers more towards science/engineering/computers/high tech fields. Before I get accused of racefail.

[roseofjuly]

I have read something similar based on #2 - it might have been in here, but there was an article quite recently that talked about how Americans work more but feel less rich and it's because we're getting paid less compared to older generations (and there's more to buy). We've got much higher productivity than the boomers, but instead of our income going up it's going to pay our bosses.

Hnh. It's kind of fucked up that an economist would miss that for his capitalistic grandstanding.

[amyura]

And the system-in-decline thing isn't even entirely true (though it certainly is partially true). I teach high school, and the standardized tests themselves have gotten harder. 15 years ago, the SATs included content through Algebra I and about 2/3 of a geometry course; today they include through Algebra II. The AP calculus exam used to be about a third pre-calculus concepts like logs and rational functions, whereas today it covers about two semesters of college calculus. Pretty much nationwide, all students are expected to pass basic literacy and writing exams to graduate high school, when in the 70s and even 80s it wasn't unheard-of for high schools to graduate functionally illiterate young adults.

What has changed is that we don't have jobs in the US for all of those less-skilled people.....because those jobs have been outsourced.

iCan't

[forwhataim]

Wait, what? I thought productivity was up. I thought it was employers getting away with paying one person to do the workload of two people and blaming the recession for a lack of reasonable raises that's messing it up for younger workers. But in his opinion it's because people close to my age just overall suck? He's been wrong about other things. I'm ignoring this.

Re: iCan't

[brewsternorth]

Yeah, same here. My department at work is smaller now than when I joined it, and the workload isn't that much smaller, though we've found ways to do it in less time.

Re: iCan't

[normaltrouble]

Wait, what? I thought productivity was up. I thought it was employers getting away with paying one person to do the workload of two people and blaming the recession for a lack of reasonable raises that's messing it up for younger workers.

You are right, as far as I know.

And those one people-two workers?
From what I see they can be the 50something who just saw some of his fellow workers, in their 40's and 50's also, being cut, and the 20something thrown into replace, at a lower rate of pay, somebody who either retired, or was laid off, and everything in between.

And it's the 50somethings who if laid off, let go etc. probably will not find anything to replace those jobs--people laid off around 55 just aren't being rehired.

Re: iCan't

[quixotic_otaku]

Raises? What raises?