How Recession Affected Those Born In And After The Eighties!

Today is the 14th of September 2009. How old are you on this day? Are you 10, 16, 25, 29? Well, I’m no numerologist to predict your future by knowing your birth dates, but I would like to tell you how this recession has affected people of different age groups. Of course on the whole, it was a time of general dearth of wealth, joblessness, despair and fatigue for everybody. However the effects for different age groups were different. So let’s see how our contemporaries and those who were older or younger to us were affected by this financial calamity. Here I’ll be focusing on people on the right side of thirty years.

Children

If you were a toddler you wouldn’t obviously know anything about the recession, because mom and dad have done all the background work of funding your food and other necessities. A school-going child might have heard that the country is not having money from his teachers, or that dad might lose his job, or mom should be more stringent with her spending. The recession has also taught schools to introduce financial literacy for children. A good financial literacy course for schoolchildren is the Jump$tart Coalition .

Adolescents

Adolescents are a carefree lot! This is the time you step into the world as an experimenting youngster. You’re not a grown up and neither are you a child. Your stormy mental state needs oodles of fun and happiness; but sadly enough, recession was not all that empathetic of your blossoming phase in life. Many teenage workers lost their jobs. According to Political Calculations blog reports, the recession had outgrown teenagers with the 16-19 age groups suffering the most. It seems in the coming days, the job scenario will improve for them. However, I was not ever an advocate of child labor. This recession might have given those poor teenagers some rest. But surviving without a job for the really needy can be very tough.

Young Adults

Those of you between 20-24 years of age have undergone the same hardships that the teenagers have faced because the fall in employment rates are the same. October 2008 to January 2009 saw the maximum dip and in February 2009 the figures rose. 20-24 year olds along with 16-19 year olds were least affected by the recession in comparison to their age-wise seniors because the automotive industry fallout had little impact on them.

If you’re a college student you’ll know how difficult it was for you to continue paying your fees and other college charges. On the other hand, 28 -29 year olds who confidently stepped out into the world to start their careers had to face a severe financial blow. There were maximum job losses from this age group. You can read the Pewreseach report here.  The New York Times and Cleveland Report provide important supplements.

Recession has hit young adults adversely.  What ‘s worse is that according to AFL-CIO Young Workers Report and blog even older adults i.e. those in their 30’s are still living with their parents as they are not having the financial resources to establish themselves independently !