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Recession Robs Spain’s Youth of Jobs and Hope
Helene Zuber, Spiegel
It was early July when it finally happened and nothing came out of the ATM. With a sinking feeling, Iñigo Ortega went into his usual bank to print out his statements. The bank’s maintenance fee had been debited from his account, and there was nothing left — his savings were gone. It had taken only three months to go completely broke.
As recently as March, Ortega, 36, was employed as the head of a small but upscale architectural firm on La Castellana, Madrid’s grand boulevard, making €3,000 ($4,280) a month. But the firm specialized in luxury restorations and renovating hotels in historic buildings, and it had been getting fewer and fewer lucrative contracts. It wasn’t really a surprise, seeing that the worsening economic crisis was keeping millions of foreign tourists away. The most creative designer on the firm’s six-person team was the last one to be let go. And it was Ortega’s bad luck that he had been working for the last four years as a freelancer without a set contract that would have entitled him to claim unemployment benefits.
…Tens of thousands in Spain are currently in the same dire straits as Ortega. As the country faces the worst recession since the Spanish Civil War ended 70 years ago, first-time jobseekers are being hit especially hard. No other country in Europe has as many young people out of work: almost 37 percent of people under 25 and a quarter of those under 30. Sociologists have already created a name for this group — “generación ni-ni,” the neither-nor generation. The term meant to describe young people who are neither studying nor working and don’t have something in their lives that they can get excited about. It’s a true zero generation — zero jobs, zero prospects. A recent survey of Spaniards between the ages of 18 and 34 showed that 54 percent of those polled view themselves as neither-nors.
(20 July 2009)
Young, gifted – but jobless
Sean O’Grady, Richard Garner and Michael Savage, The Independent
The number of people without a job in Britain reached 2.4 million today, with almost 1 million of those under the age of 25 – a fifth of the nation’s young people.
The figures will show that overall unemployment has risen by over 800,000 in a year – a 50 per cent increase – as almost every sector of the economy, from construction to the City, sheds labour. Economists are also warning that the public sector, previously immune to recession, will soon begin to cut jobs rapidly. Analysts believe that by May – the last possible date for Gordon Brown to call an election – 3 million people will be out of work.
(12 August 2009)
Tracking the recession: Stimulus helps revive summer youth jobs programs
Christine Vestal, Stateline
School’s out and young job seekers across the country have a less-than-30-percent chance of finding work. For disadvantaged youths – high school dropouts, teen parents and minors with a criminal record – the odds are worse.
“We’re talking about young adults whose lives are pretty screwed up. They have a tough time finding work even in the best times,” said James M. Golembeski, director of Wisconsin’s Bay Area Workforce Development Board.
…But thanks to a $1.2 billion federal stimulus fund, states are revitalizing summer youth programs that have languished over the past decade because of declining federal funding. Allocated to states over a two-year period and then distributed through local workforce agencies, the stimulus program allows states to subsidize jobs and create training programs for 14-to-24-year-olds who come from low-income families and have one or more risk factors, such as foster care, homelessness or teen pregnancy…
(15 July 2009)
And in the spirit of offering some possible solutions, an older article… -KS
Tokyo – Rooftop and underground urban farming lures young Japanese office workers
Harumi Ozawa, AFP via City Farmer News
Tomohiro Kitazawa makes an unlikely farmer. He works neither under the sun nor in the fields, instead reporting for duty in the bustling heart of Tokyo.
As Japan’s capital city struggles with problems from food safety to global warming to unemployment, a growing number of people in the famously crowded metropolis are becoming city farmers, planting crops atop tall buildings or deep underground.
…The state – of- the art farm, known as Pasona O2, was created by Tokyo- based temporary staffing agency Pasona Group Inc. The farm carefully adjusts temperatures, humidity and lighting so vegetables can grow under the ground.
…“ We want to activate Japan’s agricultural sector by dispatching enthusiastic young people,” said Sayaka Itami, leader of Pasona’s new business development division. “ By creating this new style of farm, which is bright and clean, in the middle of Tokyo, we want to draw young people’s interest into farming,” she said.
She said that urban farming helped her company by creating a new source of jobs….
(5 November 2008)
related: http://thewhereblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/maturation-of-urban-agriculture… -KS
