Taking Back Labor Day: The 'Lost Decade' Of Young Workers
Labor Day has lost its luster as a holiday. First celebrated on September 5, 1882 in New York City, the day consisted of a parade and celebrations to exhibit "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations." Now the holiday has been downgraded to back yard barbecues and end of the summer getaways. The question is: who is resting on Labor Day? Certainly 15 million American's aren't taking the day off- because they don't have job, as "real unemployment" rates have climbed to 16.8%.
Many of the older generation aren't resting on Labor Day. They can't afford to quit their jobs and retire. And, according to new data, our youth aren't resting either. Nearly one in three workers under age 35 will be laboring on Labor Day, and almost half of them are working more than 40 hours per week. A full 50% do not have family leave time, at an age most likely to be growing a new family, 40% do not have sick leave and 33% don't have any vacation time at all. (AFL/CIO, 2009). Not much "esprit de corp" to celebrate this year.
These grim statistics, and many more, were released in a landmark report called, "Young Workers A Lost Decade" conducted in July 2009 by Peter D. Hart Research Associates for the AFL-CIO and their affiliate Working America. The nationwide survey of 1,156 people follows up on a similar survey the AFL-CIO conducted in 1999.
The survey states; "young workers, (in 1999), were economically insecure, concerned about deteriorating job quality, distrustful of corporate America--and yet stubbornly hopeful about the future. Ten years later, the change is shocking. The status of young workers not only has not improved; its dramatic deterioration is threatening to redefine the norm in job standards. Income, health care, retirement security and confidence in being able to achieve their financial goals are down across the board. Only economic insecurity is up."
An astounding one third of workers age 35 and under live at home with their parents - because they cannot afford housing on their own. Our best and brightest are frozen in place, while simultaneously running in circles. Many can't afford to go to college, yet, those who do have upper level degrees can't find jobs in their field, and are overwhelmed with student loans. Workers age 35 and under can't afford health care, can't get ahead, or save for the future.
AFL/CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka summed up the report's findings this way:
"We're calling the report "A Lost Decade" because we're seeing 10 years of opportunity lost as young workers across the board are struggling to keep their heads above water and often not succeeding. They've put off adulthood--put off having kids, put off education--and a full 34 percent of workers under 35 live with their parents for financial reasons."
Check out this short You Tube video clip of young professionals most affected by the economy speaking their minds:
The findings from this study are significant, and deeply distressing. The days of securing a job as a bank teller or in sales; settling down, buying a house and starting a family are over. The upcoming generation will emerge as the first to be worse off than their parents, and something must be done.
I have written previously about how the United States is one of the few countries that does not mandate paid vacation time for workers. We give a nod to Labor Day, but we do not believe in it. Stress related illnesses from our overworked population are the greatest burden on health care, but we do not support any measures for prevention. We complain to our government to fix our problems, but we don't eat properly, exercise and meditate - what's wrong with us anyway?
On Labor Day, while it is important to rest our bodies, we cannot rest in our determination to change the climate and opportunities in the work force. We cannot put our heads in the beach sand and ignore the far reaching implications of the "Lost Decade". It is exactly the fire, imagination and energy of our nation's young professionals that will carry us into a new era of prosperity.
While the outlook looks pretty grim for this bunch, there is a bright side to this group- they are incredibly resilient, creative and interested in service. Our working class, age 35 and under are unusually politically active - at the polls and in civic affairs, and are resoundingly optimistic President Obama can help turn things around for them to move forward as future leaders.
If we can give our youth a little room - they can get the job done. Let's look at the health care reform issue from their perspective. While the politicians are punting sound bytes like Hail Mary's, check out a creative approach in the "SuperMom Healthcare Truth Squad." Picture a bunch of young women donning bright red capes and flocking in major cities across the nation to distribute information about why health care reform will help bring economic security to the nation. Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, founder of MomsRising.org writes,
"why do moms care (about health care reform?) Not only are families struggling with getting children the healthcare coverage they need for a healthy start, but 7 out of 10 women are either uninsured, underinsured, or are in significant debt due to healthcare costs."
Julia Moulden writes about the "New Radicals" who are making money - and making a mark on the world, through social change and empowering disadvantaged workers world wide. Recently, she highlighted a new "30-something" company that helps fund entrepreneurial projects, via mini pledges instead of investors, called Kickstarter.
The original Labor Day was born in during the peak of the Industrial Revolution as a backlash to workers being on the job 12 hours a day, 7 days a week in order to make a basic living. Hmmm. Sound familiar? Let's take back Labor Day for the purpose it was created, and address the basic worker's rights to a decent paying job, health benefits, paid leave time and a positive work environment in which to thrive. And, yes, let's remember to Rest.
What say you, Huff Po readers? Any ideas and suggestions to boost the 30-somethings, celebrate Labor Day or recast a new ritual? Enjoy your holiday, however you spend it. If you would like weekly updates of this post, you can click on Become a Fan, or follow me on Twitter and Facebook.
Follow Kari Henley on Twitter: www.twitter.com/karihenley
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Geez, I worked today! I did not think of it this way until this very moment.
There's an editorial from the Tucson Citizen today about how Labor Day, and labor activism, are obsolete, since workers are protected by laws now. The writer then proposes renaming the day, suggesting, among other things, a Ronald Reagan Day. I can't figure out if the editorial is meant to be satirical or not.
The minimum wage in France is $12 an hour.
Until we start raising the minimum wage every year we have a poor economy.
I graduated from a top-tier liberal arts school in 2001 and naively thought I was on the way to success with my BA in English (bwahahahaha). I ended up in Human Resources & Recruiting, which turned out to be a horribly unstable field. I had 6 jobs in 8 years and was laid off from 5 of them, and this was in GOOD times. After 8 years of bouncing from job to job with no security or continuity, I decided to become a nurse. Now I'm 30 and in nursing school, which I love and feel will be a far more fulfulling, meaningful career than paper-pushing corporate work. While I'm grateful to be able to go back to school for a career I'm very enthusiastic about, I highly doubt I'll ever be able to have a family or own a home - I'll be graduating and starting a nursing career at 32, hardly enough time to save and plan for those things. Oh well. At least I'll be a nurse.
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I hear your frustration!
One never knows what is aroudn the corner and at 32, you have a LOT of bends in the river yet ahead of you! Stay positive, keep focused on doing what you love and I believe plenty of opportunties may open up for you!
We need good nurses!
Take care
Kari
Welcome to the nursing profession! I graduated from college and became a Registered Nurse at the age of....32! It's 12 years later and I've always worked full time (and more). I'm a nurse in surgery, which I love, but now I'm starting grad school to take me career further. There are so many areas to specialize in as a nurse and believe me, if you don't mind supervising people there are always opportunities to advance into management. You can make a great living as a nurse and you can work as much or as little as you like. The hours can vary and be flexible, not just 9-5. You make of it what you will. I've worked days in the O.R. with call, I've worked nights and evenings on the floor and ICU when I was in school. It's satisfying to make a patient feel better and soothe their anxiety. The first time a patient gave me a hug I knew why I became a nurse. It's not for the bottom line, it's for the humanity.
Thank you both for the support! I'm very happy with my choice of nursing, I love school so far and feel that I finally found my "niche". The only negative thing I meant to express being economicaly way "behind" where previous generations were at my age (owning a home, being able to afford to have a family) However, I wouldn't trade nursing school and the career path for the world!
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Kari,
Great article! So many of these young people are becoming what I call Next New Radicals -- that is, they're choosing to work as Activists (for mission-based organizations), or Entrepreneurs, starting their own companies. They know they're too precious a resource to waste.
In my column this coming Saturday, I'll write about a brilliant new alternative to traditional forms of compensation. It's an idea whose time has come -- stay posted!
Best,
Julia
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HI Julia!
The ray of HOPE in the sea of struggle! Thanks for your bright optimism and tireless work to show the myriad possibilities we have to work, earn a living, and make a difference.
I always love your columns and will look for you on Saturday!
Kari
Happy Labor Day you Reagan loving, union busting, foreign company investing republicans.
AMEN!
For every college graduate, there are 3 people who aren't. Just ten or so years ago, I read and listened to 20-somethings with degrees complaining that even though they were working, they had to live at home to pay for the luxury vehicle and credit cards they had. Around that time, I was helping raise 2 grandchildren and no longer was able to get a decent paying job as a paralegal or even secretary. At 68, I'm competing with HS kids for cashiering jobs and living with MY child after losing my house and trying to stretch a $1K/mo SS check. I have NO future except in poverty, but it's good not to have the stuff I used to be responsible for. Stuff has never been important, only people. The whole country needs to realign it's priorities.
Happy Labor Day, for what it's worth.
Amen. And we need to see community colleges and trade schools as just-as-good alternatives, especially if students learn things like writing and thinking skills along with the technical skills. You can't outsource a plumber . . .
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There definitely is something wrong with this "big picture"..
Kari
this is definately me. i'm 30 years old and started the decade off full of bright prospects, hopes, dreams and the belief that if i worked hard i could do anything. in the years between here and there, i lost one great job due to outsourcing and found a new one that is great for paying the bills. as long as nothing ever happens to me and i don't want to get ahead, its a good job.
unfortunately, i've now been out of work for 2 weeks with health problems and am wondering how i'm going to pay my share of the bills. i've got insurance, but still can't afford what the insurance company won't pay. i'm also concerned about whether or not i'll have a job waiting for me when i get better.
i, fortunately, don't live with my parents, but thats looking more and more likely as time goes on.
what happened to the american dream?
i did everything i was supposed to, and now i find myself wondering why i was such a sucker.
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hi there
It does sound like you are the exact profile of the AFL/CIO study.
It is not about being a "sucker"- but rather what can be done.
It will take innovation in the marketplace to turn it around.
check out: www.priced
Take care
Kari
hahaha, you are right, i am a statistic
i'm all for trying a new strategy, but when death panels are the topic of debate, i have a very hard time believing we'll see a new strategy for healthcare; or for anything that needs to be fixed.
thats why i feel like a sucker, because for so long i believed that was the way things worked in this country. and now, i'm so burned out on the lies and yelling i rarely even want to read the news anymore. i mostly find myself looking at entertainment and sports headlines, and i could care less about either.
Has anyone noticed the commercials on tv about "meatloaf and board games" at home being better than going out? And 6 people gathered around a small glowing tv set with the announcer saying it's not what you're watching but who you're watching it with? I know it's supposed to be a temporary pitch during a depression, but this is no temporary dowturn. This is a permanant restructuring of our lives - sans middle class. What was unique to america was not capitalism or even democracy - it was a thriving middle class based upon stable, responsible large businesss and a pluthera of small businesses. Now, I think about how we stand in long lines, buy sub-quality goods, and live several generations together, just like the Russians did when we laughed at them in the 80's. I think about Cubans who refurbish their belongings rather than buy new ones. It's a sacrificing, hunker-down mentality that will only get more engrained in our culture as time goes by. People will accept it. We will move further and further away from our european and canadian high quality of living. We will turn up our noses at those folks, just as the people who lived in third world countries or banana republics sneered at americans. We will sneer back, happily standing in line at our box stores, and buying our chinese goods.
i don't really have anything intelligent to add to your comment, but i appreciate what you've said.
in some ways, i hope this restructuring of our lives is more permanent that the way "our lives changed on 9/11"
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Hi Kari - great blog
I like it tahat your huffpost viewers are with you
This country needs a fixin'
Love ya,
Ed
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ED and DEB!
Thank you for strolling by today. A lot of folks have a LOT to say on this subject!
I always welcome the conversati
that's what its all about! :)
Kari
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I couldn't find a better person super blogger to have a conversation than YOU
Your ROCK
Om
Ed
What do you mean the first generation?
My Dad only had a bachelor's degree and my Mom doesn't have a college degree. She was a stay at home Mom until we all graduated from high school, then went to work as something to do. They're both retired.
I have a master's degree and have worked non-stop since graduating. I've worked for 30 years, sometimes with a second job and I am NOT better off than my parents. My parents have a large house in a desireable neighborhood that has been paid off for 20 years. My house is worth less and in less than desirable neighborhood. It won't be paid off until I'm in my 80s. My Dad retired at 57. I'll be working until I'm 65. Hopefully I'll get to retire before I die first. With luck I might even get to enjoy a few years of retirement before I die.
Better off? No. I'm not better off than my parents.
I'm 54.
I am 64 and HOPE to work until at least 72. Working and being productive is the secret to a satisfactory life.
Yes, you're right. And I'm 45 and it the same situation, only without a masters degree. My dad worked for a big company that Ronald Reagan ran into the ground, which no longer exists, and had a good retirement package and savings from working there so long. He has a nice house, he's retired, while I'm struggling with day-to-day expenses.
If there is a new generation that's worse off than ME, then I do really feel sorry for them. Soon we'll all be living in the same apartment, three generations, like the Russians used to do.
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Greetings to the above comment chain!
It is clear this topic is filled with intense emotions and frustrations. The feeling that working hard is not enough to support your family - let alone get ahead- is part of the underpinnings of rage that are spilling out in the health care debates. People want Some sort of security- anywhere.
The issue lies in both our personal examinations. For example, did the previous generations have multiple cars, tv's, computers, and granite counter tops? The modern generations have adoped a high spend mentality that does not help early retirement. I think the changes have to start there, and then translate out to a larger government turnaround.
You're so right. My parents generation (they were born in '31 and '32) were the generation to reap the rewards of our system. They may have been children during the depression, but after the war all the opportunities were available to live a good, solid, comfortable life. Cheap housing, cheap cars, cheap food and clothing, plenty of jobs--not just one's you had to go to college for, good jobs in factories, and it was affordable to raise a family (5 kids) on one income. They retired and have had Medicare.
My husband and I are college educated professionals with no kids and we still live in the same two bedroom/one bath house we bought 11 years ago. My husband has been laid off twice since 2006, with one unemployment lasting almost a year. He's in IT and resorted to becoming a self-employed contractor to make money. I'm a nurse and have always had a job and carry our insurance.
My mother worked because she wanted to, not because she had to. I work at a profession I love, but we NEED both our incomes just to get by. It used to be that you put the second income away for trips and extra's but it's complete necessity these days to have two full-time jobs just to meet the basics. My parents generation were the ones who reaped the most benefit from out system. Now, we're on our own.
I'm 50, and I know what you're talking about. I graduated during the 1980s recession and promptly went to grad school. Didn't the income disparity start to really grow during that decade? We were all better educated than our parents, but between housing inflation and salary differentials, some of got behind. This generation, however, is pretty much ALL behind.
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Dear Kari,
What a stirring post! My sense is that it can take for a situation to get sufficiently critical for changes to be made. America has often been seen as a land of opportunity. But it seems that the opportunity comes at a price.
However, I am sure that there are those who are hearing the wake up call and effecting changes - as I write! I look forward to hearing about the creative solutions that are brought forward as a result of this crisis.
Thank you for raising the awareness!
With love to you,
Anne
It's worth noting that we under-35s overwhelmingly recognize the situation to have already become critical, perhaps for the last 10 years or more. The frustrating thing is that society at large sees these clarion calls as progress toward that recognition, instead of proof that recognition is arriving too late. We can't rely on the activists, who are already bearing much of the load and beginning to have a good effect; we have to have broad social and political support for youth issues.
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Agreed BLBlass. Thanks for participating in this conversation!!
My comment chain was swaped around. The comment below is for Anne- who lives in France.
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It occurs to me how often this summer I have been addressing issues that are largely American in nature. I suppose the preoccupations in this country with our state of affairs dominates the thinking. I just posted above how the American's also spend a lot more than Europeans- who seem to hold a somewhat similar lifestyle to the America of the 50's and 60's. One car, small house, not a lot of decoration madness- simpler life, less spending=easier to manage on one job.
Thanks for stopping by!
Kari
I'm going to be one of those 30-somethings in a few days. For the past 2 years I've had a steady, good-paying job, with 2 weeks paid vacation time and health insurance (reimbursement plan, but better than nothing, especially when I got food poisoning last year). I've been teaching English in China. I got home next month, with the prospect of a 2-month long seasonal job... and nothing after that. My plan? Go to Germany, get a Masters degree in German, and go from there.
If you're smart you'll stay in Europe. Or at least Canada. The quality of living in america is only going to keep sprirling downward. Unless they come out with a new deal, and new protections and initiatives to build up a middle class again, the wealth gap will only widen here.
Leave the country and the rest of us to clean up the mess? How typically selfish.
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Thank you for commenting. This raises another alarming point for me. I live in a provencial town in the East Coast that has nearly 100% loss of the youth upon graduating. The state is losing population to more attractive cities with better job opportunities. Why? People can no longer take over a mom & pop business and survive.
On a national scale, to hear of a bright, talented and well trained member of society has to stay out of our country in order to find work and opportunity is more than a clarion call- it is shameful.
Clearly I will be writing about this again next week! Thanks for the comments.
Kari
Point taken....b
http://www
(OkayLady raises her hand)
I am one of these. well educated, hard working and sliding backwards. My mom just burst into tears in front of me once saying how she just didn't know how my sister or i were supposed to make it. She was so upset talking about how she thought after all the hard work she and dad did to get us a better life, to get my sister and i to college, that we would be OK.
I am ultra conservative with my spending but have very little savings. My earnings have dropped despite my skill increasing. I am stuck in a job for health care that i literally cannot purchase for any amount on my own due to a pre- existing condition so turning my own business for my fill income is an impossibility. I have managed to always keep a place of my own, but I had put off having a family to be responsible and no i see 40 coming soon and i am no where, and tired, and mad as he!!.
Ask me if i will ever EVER vote corporatis
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Thanks for raising your hand, OkayLady.
This is the first step.
Raising your hand.
Making your voices heard. Using your intelligence to move beyond the screaming and yelling on the hill, and channeling it into constructive ways to shift the ground underneath us- and make it a place you want to be.
This age is supposed to be the dawning of the highest wealth earning years. Don't let that be taken away- scan the horizon, find your place- and go for it. Small businesses ownership could be your ticket out.
Small business will be her ticket out, IF we all pester our Senators and Representatives about getting a national healthcare plan not tied to work. Boy will that stimulate business growth, raise profits and reduce stress on the part of millions! Please don't take offense, but might I also recommend a little more effort at spelling and proper grammar. Really, you do have it in you.
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