Unemployment rate of 52.2% for young Americans

The unemployment rate for Americans 16 to 24 years of age has hit the highest rate since the Great Depression.

The unemployment rate for young Americans has exploded to 52.2 percent -- a post-World War II high, according to the Labor Dept. -- meaning millions of Americans are staring at the likelihood that their lifetime earning potential will be diminished and, combined with the predicted slow economic recovery, their transition into productive members of society could be put on hold for an extended period of time.
And worse, without a clear economic recovery plan aimed at creating entry-level jobs, the odds of many of these young adults -- aged 16 to 24, excluding students -- getting a job and moving out of their parents' houses are long. Young workers have been among the hardest hit during the current recession -- in which a total of 9.5 million jobs have been lost.
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During previous recessions, in the early '80s, early '90s and after Sept. 11, 2001, unemployment among 16-to-24 year olds never went above 50 percent. Except after 9/11, jobs growth followed within two years.
A much slower recovery is forecast today. Shierholz believes it could take four or five years to ramp up jobs again.

Many of these kids are coming out of college deeply in debt. A four or five year delay in starting their careers could effect the entire rest of their lives.

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> 40 yrs of age

I think is also sky high. It's just more evidence that they are labor arbitraging workers frankly.

These debt loads coming from school are beyond belief. So, take your typical STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics), often those take 5 years to get the 120 credit hrs because the course load is so tough.

So, add to that massive age discrimination, which can start as early as 30 yrs., often 35.

So, your career is cut short and on top of it, you've got to earn a living for a good 5 years to even pay off the debt to get the degree.

It would be nice to show just how much lifetime earnings have been cut short with all of this and we haven't even hit 401k BS scam in place of traditional pensions.

Things will pick up

Things will pick up eventually. Most likely there will be more jobs available at the start of 2010.

Based on what?

That's an honest question. Given all the economic data out there, what exactly is the so-called recovery going to build upon? Exports? Consumer spending? A housing boom? Government tax credits?