There is a solution, one that worked well for Greenhouse's generation of the '70s. Vote for the Printing Press!

Young people are supposed to be in debt. A lifetime of earnings pays off that debt and results in the late acquisition of assets. Whether one comes out well or poorly depends upon whether or not one pays off the debt with depreciated currency.

Inflate Young People! You have nothing to lose but your debts.

"Nowadays the unspoken message is that you have to bust your butt and perform well to make sure your employer keeps you. You also have to earn your pay increases because automatic raises are increasingly a thing of the past. As one business school professor put it, 'It's an, 'If you give, you'll get' model,'"

Must have been a slip of the tongue on the part of that professor. I think what that business school professor meant to say is this:

"If you give, the CEO will get. You, on the other hand, will get little reward for your hard work. So if you are really smart, you will work to change the way things work in your country to ensure that people who work hard are rewarded. To start, you might want to get the money out of elections, because then your representatives will be working for you and your interests."

After reading your piece and thinking about recent policies and trends, I think we are likely to end up with a generation of people who work LESS hard because they have little to lose and no incentive.

And when the notion of a strong work ethic loses all meaning for workers, the majority of corporations and investors will lose, too. Karma for greed, I guess. Just another great way to lower productivity and ruin an economy.

i am a young worker and i feel the pressure to get an advanced degree. good jobs are hard to come by if you don't have one. I have a decent one now but there's almost zero chance for me to move up unless i have a masters or a law degree or even a phd, and i don't feel comfortable settling down without some chance to move up. and from what i hear, you don't even really pick up new skills by getting these degrees! they're a total farce!

Perhaps Steven covers this in his book, but another challenge for the young worker or the unskilled worker is the difficulty in finding permanent jobs. Typically, young workers are hired on a part-time basis or an on-call basis. Companies would rather hire 2 part-timers than one full-timer because they save on benefits. I see this as little more than a scam - we'll give you a job, but it won't have any benefits or hope of becoming a full-time permanent position.

There are many parents like Steven who see what's happening and worry not only for their kids, but for themselves because parents are providing many of their kids, struggling towards independence, with housing and/or financial aid at a time parents are trying to prepare for their own retirement.

Over the last 20 years we've slipped from being the financial dynamo of OUR parents to an economy that resembles post-war England.

I dunno. I'm 37, so I'm right around the age of what you're looking at. I don't think it's that hard to reach whatever level you aspire to. Most kids get too hung up on irreconcileable personal goals when it comes to work/family/lifestyle. They impose a lot of this debt on themselves tilting at windmills. I always provide whatever advice I can to my younger coworkers, and I think most of them appreciate it. (The college career center won't tell them the truth.) It's always better to work in or around a prospering company/industry/region than one in decline. You can *always* find one. I tell them bounce around early--every six months if you have to--until you find a career field/position you like. Liking your job is the key to long-term satisfaction. After that, be competent, ethical, and diligent. Your first six months will define you within the company. Never say no to the first special project (big or small) you're offered. Knock it out of the park, and you'll be promoted at your first annual review, if not sooner. If not, put the experience on your resume while it's still fresh and walk. You've spent too many years honing your skills and cultivating your interests to be insulted. Sell them to someone who will appreciate your worth...and someone will.

One of the big mistakes the unions are making by accepting two-tier scales is that you have a group that feels screwed over right from the get go.

In a decade, those same young workers will be able to vote on getting rid of health benefits for retirees in exchange for a raise for themselves.

Moreover, today's young Americans are entering a workplace in which the job security that my parents' generation largely took for granted has all but evaporated. Nowadays the unspoken message is that you have to bust your butt and perform well to make sure your employer keeps you. You also have to earn your pay increases because automatic raises are increasingly a thing of the past.

This is one major reason why so many young people are opting out of hierarchical employment tracks, either trying to start businesses early or choosing lower-paying careers with more work-life balance. Ironically, in the minds of far too many employers, this attitude is labeled "lazy" and/or "entitled."

Even the highly skilled, high-paying professions (like law) have huge downsides exactly because of this new "constant competition" mentality. New lawyers work far more hours than entry level lawyers did 30 years ago. The disparity between firms and government/public interest is also much higher. And while firms' starting salaries partially reflect these hours, the new lawyers accepting these jobs must effectively cede their personal lives entirely. 80 hours work weeks in-office are not uncommon, and the hours you're not working are tied to a BlackBerry. But it's what's necessary in order to hang on to that salary -- and without that salary, that huge debt you need to pay off starts to become a serious, scary issue.

I am 25 and currently in law school, and it's interesting to see the dichotomy in attitudes. A lot of people are seriously considering giving up roughly large salaries (not counting bonuses) to go to government jobs with loan repayment benefits rather than firm jobs specifically in order to secure a reasonable working life. The high-paying firms are very often seen simply as places to service debt for a few years before moving on, and they suffer HUGE (and quite expensive) attrition rates as a result. But this isn't seen as a labor issue so much as a symptom of irresponsibility.

The alternative is to try to get out of the system of large employees entirely and start your own business. Even in the best of times, that's never been easy right out of school (you have to accumulate capital, contacts, etc...). But today we also have record high health costs and virtually unaffordable private health insurance. It's hard to opt out of a hierarchical system when it can literally mean taking your life in your hands.

I'm really happy to see books tackling this issue being published because this is, in my opinion, one of the biggest gaps in generational understanding in years. We see huge institutional debt, a crushing attitude towards work, virtually no job security, and a hugely inadequate system of social support. Our bosses, remembering how it felt to be a college graduates 20-30 years ago, generally see a bunch of lazy bums asking for more than they deserve.

Great discussion and thanks for the insight into many of the scary numbers which young workers are facing in the marketplace.

Because I am young I have very little perspective on the generation which preceded my generation. But one thing seems clear, in the past there was a substantial industry of blue collar jobs for those that did not have technical degrees or college degrees. Many of those jobs had retirement plans and healthcare plans protected by union representation. We do not seem to have as many of those jobs for my generation but maybe our country has more people therefor less jobs. Also throughout my life it seems that there has been a concerted effort by the business community and the goverment to get rid of unions and union jobs, not to mention the piss-poor management of our Auto industry by the leading American companies. Another facet to this story is the way that corporate America uses and endless supply of young college educated workers to work as contract employees. Two of the companies my sister worked for in the late 90's and early 00's employed her over a 9 month period as a prospective hire/contract employee. For her work she was given no healthcare benefits nor retirement benefits until such time as her contratc expired. Obviously I can not speak for her or the company but the result in both cases was that she was let go at the end of her term and had to look to find another job. In both cases she was left the impression that both companies frequently used this tactic to hire high-ckilled entry level workers without having to give them benefits. I would guess that the ttransition for such a job was not as critical in cost analysis as saving money not paying benefits! When I graduated from grad school, I was given the opportunity to work for a leading Goverment Contractor on the same type of temporary basis. Six months later I was given the opportunity to get healthcare and a 401K. I think this is a normal business practice throughout corporate America and somthing that I believe is rather unethical on a part of corporate America. Throughout my grade school education I was told to succeed and that if you succeed opportunities will come your way. They told us that college was the way to guarentee your future but here I am and here my sister is following the steps and leadership from previous generations then getting treated like indentured servants having to pay the piper first.

Another complaint I have and my girlfriend has about corporate America that may not be unique to my generation but standard operating procedure for corporate America is business asking you to give up much of your free-time in order to succeed. I am of the school of "working to live" not "live to work". I have been educated, I have a college degree and a Master's. I understand that if a business is going to succeed that it must have worker's who go above and beyond but nonetheless I feel like much of corporate America resembles a Autocracy with its own rules meant to control the lives of the employees of the companies. I feel like I have to be proven innocent by the background checks, the drug tests and the trial employment period demanded by companies such as the one I work for. I understand that many coroporations in America do not resemble my words but I fear that this is an exception not a rule. I am angry at the previous generation, I am angry at the lack of quality fo life which corporate America only rates in relation to their bottom lines. I feel that their are many who make up my generation who have massive doubts about globalization, corporate America, the role of our goverment and its ties to coroporate America and the violations of our personal rights by this current administration and those of other administrations. It would seem that control and a lack of liability is all that many care for, I do not seek control I seek life and integrity in leading my life. There I go rambling again, Sorry! I am just extremely cynical about the lifestyle which I was told to expect as a child and the world which I see as an adult. The two are mutually exclusive but not quite exact opposites!