Crushing unemployment among the young people in the EU

[Martinus]

Right now, the job market for the young people is so bad, university graduates pick up trainee or stagiare jobs that either don't pay at all or pay very little (say, the equivalent of 450 euro per month, which in a city like Warsaw may not be enough to even rent you a studio flat) and are often stuck in them for months on end. By comparison, when I was entering the job market in 1999, I was offered the same kind of job after one month of "summer student programme" which paid over 1000 euro per month.

And if you consider the inflation and growing costs of living in Warsaw, the gulf is even bigger. Frankly, I don't know how the young people manage these days.

[Tamas]

I don't hire young people. Unless they are veterans.

Any cv suggesting any links to the military, guns, and the like lands in the dust bin, whenever I'm doing recruitment.

Yet you used to moan about unruly and dumb servants of yours at the office. I think some young people who come straight from college or high school just fail to quickly adopt to the fact that they are in a different model at the workplace - it is not a cycle of pretending to be listening then reciting something on paper and getting the reward for it. Rather, some effort, individual problem-solving, and responsibility-taking is expected.
At least military service washes the school-mindset out of everyone.

[Josquius]

Right now, the job market for the young people is so bad, university graduates pick up trainee or stagiare jobs that either don't pay at all or pay very little (say, the equivalent of 450 euro per month, which in a city like Warsaw may not be enough to even rent you a studio flat) and are often stuck in them for months on end. By comparison, when I was entering the job market in 1999, I was offered the same kind of job after one month of "summer student programme" which paid over 1000 euro per month.

And if you consider the inflation and growing costs of living in Warsaw, the gulf is even bigger. Frankly, I don't know how the young people manage these days.

Answer: They don't.
I'd have loved to have done an internship, it would really have helped me get a foot on the ladder. I couldn't afford it though. Such things are only for the rich/those lucky enough to have somewhere they can stay for free in big cities.

[Monoriu]

I think the biggest problem is not just that they make so little.  Their concern is that they don't see any hope for the future.  So many semi-skilled or mid level management jobs are gone or outsourced.  The older generation keep lying to them to "start from the bottom".  But they soon find out that they are stuck at the bottom forever.  Those who miss the train don't have any second chance. 

And young people in HK usually live with their parents. 

[The Brain]

In Sweden, if you get a good degree you get a decent job. Good degrees are free. Nuff said.

[Caliga]

so you discard such losers just as you would discard someone who spent 5 years backpacking in Tibet.

I finally agree with you on some aspect of this discussion.

Hippie?  GET.  OUT.

[Martinus]

I don't hire young people. Unless they are veterans.

Any cv suggesting any links to the military, guns, and the like lands in the dust bin, whenever I'm doing recruitment.

Yet you used to moan about unruly and dumb servants of yours at the office. I think some young people who come straight from college or high school just fail to quickly adopt to the fact that they are in a different model at the workplace - it is not a cycle of pretending to be listening then reciting something on paper and getting the reward for it. Rather, some effort, individual problem-solving, and responsibility-taking is expected.
At least military service washes the school-mindset out of everyone.

Uhm, no. This job requires creative thinking. That's the last thing you'd learn in the military. Plus you are comparing pest and cholera here. Someone who wasted 9+ months of their life on doing military service is going to be inferior to someone who spent this time learning something useful (or even someone 9 months younger who applies for the trainee programme). Sure, if you are comparing that to someone who wasted this 9 months on partying then you are probably correct, but we are not talking about this level.

Again, I suppose your mileage may vary, depending on the line of work. Lawyers recruited for my firm are supposed to be the creme de la creme, the best of the best the market has to offer - there is a reason why we almost always limit ourselves to recruiting people just from 2 or 3 universities in the country. We are not talking about a position where a pot smoking hippie may apply or be seriously considered (and where, therefore, someone with military training could be considered an improvement). The type of people who would get a military training in this country are below our notice to begin with.

And incidentally, the quality of the recruits has improved lately - people seem much more keen to work hard than 4 years ago or so - so at least the crisis has been good for one thing.

[The Brain]

Lawyers recruited for my firm are supposed to be the creme de la creme, the best of the best the market has to offer

WTF

[Phillip V]

Expect any violent social unrest in Europe and America this year?

[DGuller]

Lawyers recruited for my firm are supposed to be the creme de la creme, the best of the best the market has to offer

WTF

[Eddie Teach]

He needs somebody to cover his ass as far as the actual legal work goes.

[The Brain]

Apparently Mart is an exceptional lawyer.

[Sheilbh]

Its those inflexible labour markets that you keep on hearing about in action. The converse is that surprisingly few established workers have lost their jobs (speaking for the UK, there are probably as many stories as countries).hat tradition, during the early 80s many of my friends taught English in the Sudan, kids have it easy these days 

Although the other side of this has been that we've just turned more German than American.  People in the UK haven't been fired but the number of people who've moved on to part-time contracts, or flexible working is very high.  That is, I think, a generally positive flexibility in the labour market.

I'd add that in my anecdotal experience the problems for youth employment here are internships and free-lance contracts. 

Internships without pay are a real curse.  I've a friend whose company employs three interns (with lunch expenses!) to do basic jobs for different teams.  Rotating interns every three months is cheaper than employing a full time admin assistant even though, though the interns don't know this, there's no hope of a job at the end of it.  As Tyr says it's also hugely anti-meritocratic.  You get no benefits while you're interning so unless you're rich or live in London it's very, very difficult to get started and companies expect you to have at least one or two internships before they hire you.

The free-lance thing is that loads of my friends don't work for their companies.  The company HR departments basically help them set up as businesses, so they're self-employed, free-lancing, entry level 'consultants'.  It's not entirely because of labour inflexibility in terms of firing.  In this country we've got relatively liberal employment laws.  The big issues from what I can gather are that companies don't want new members of corporate pension schemes (the BBC are the worst at this, apparently  they barely ever actually hire anyone because their private pension scheme is so good, many people working is on a rolling two-year project-based contract as a consultant).  The only flexibility issue, here at least, is that companies don't have to pay consultants for holidays or bank holidays.  They don't even have to give holidays.

I worry more about what we'll look like in twenty years when the chinless wonders who can afford to do multiple internships are running everything

[The Larch]

Right now, the job market for the young people is so bad, university graduates pick up trainee or stagiare jobs that either don't pay at all or pay very little (say, the equivalent of 450 euro per month, which in a city like Warsaw may not be enough to even rent you a studio flat) and are often stuck in them for months on end.

Right now? That has been the norm in Spain for at least a decade or so. I interned in Madrid back in 2004-05 for around 600 € per month and I was privileged because I was getting payed at all.

[Admiral Yi]

How common are office temps in Yuroland?