This is a troubling article, to be sure. More broadly; not only are youth giving up on the job search, but they are turning against social insitutions they feel are repressing them.
For anyone who's looking, though, there's also an incredible opportunity waiting to be seized.
Governments don't have the money to do this. Many small businesses are cash-strapped as it is. More to the point, a lot of young people are disenfranchised with work and employment in its current model.
It's not that they don't want to work - it's that they want to be respected and have ownership of their work. They want to build something for themselves, not for a generation from whom they feel increasingly disconnected. The thought that settled baby-boomers are going to tell them to pick up and move across the country to drive a cab, because that's what's available, is deeply offensive to them.
The solution to this? Entrepreneurship.
Those at the top with the financial resources need to start connecting their funding with start-up capital and mentorship opportunities. Governments starved for new policy directions and ideas would do well to foster these connections.
Places like the MaRS discovery District and the Centre for Social Innovation are leading the way on this front. In terms of social participation, civic engagement projects like Samara and Why Should I Care are helping to connect young people with those in power and provide them with a voice that gets heard.
And there are ideas out there - practical, sustainable, affordable ones that, with the right nurturing, can change the world for the better.
If you want to know more, drop me a line - ccarteredwards@gmail.com.
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