I'm staying in Switzerland for a while atm, and I was very surprised to learn that they (in Zurich at least) have a policy whereby people ABOVE a certain income threshold will not be allowed to rent inner-city apartments, precisely to try to fix the problem mentioned. Their collective acceptance of this, especially in such an affluent city, is quite astounding.

No, in my place i could go much, much lower, but the places i would like to work in (because they supposedly have jobs that are actually in my field) tend to be more aggressive about this.

Hell, let's pick up another one: the promise of marcellus shale. Here was the future, it would solve energy prices and put everyone to work, until, whoops, laws of supply and demand, the exploiters *like* having natural gas prices this high, so we're just going to squat on all this land that we purchased and stop making our purchases now that we've pumped enough into the market.

The moneymen at the top, they're out to screw us all, and my generation in particular.

I suppose they don't want (upper)middle class people in cheap rent appartments (of which the rent is not determined by the market and/or the appartements are collectively funded)

Every recent generation has faced this to a certain extent ... For my grandparents a high school education was the gateway to a well paying job; for my parents a college degree was the gateway to a well paying job; and for the older part of Generation X and younger Baby Boomers accreditation past a bachelor degree was the gateway to a well paying job.

It's insidious to hire the most qualified people for the jobs you have available?

I mean what.... employers should let people who were most likely laid off for reasons no fault to their own, just stay unemployed because there are a bunch of college graduates without experience that need jobs?

It's the same reason why it's a problem in spain... and worse there.

Surplus qualified labor means that there aren't enough jobs for everyone.

That means the least qualified people aren't going to get jobs...

Fire the old people. Fix the social safety net so they can actually live off retirements (or restore pensions, or something), institute mandatory retirement ages after which these people can not work. Set aside positions to help transition recent graduates into the industry, that is, paying internships or some sort of short-term training program to get them off to work, the thing that Sal-Paradise mentioned about banning upper income individuals from renting in the city was also a good idea, to keep rent inflation from occurring.

If the moneymen keep giving us the middle finger, their whole house-of-cards is going to collapse. Already the vaunted 18-34 marketing demographic is becoming weaker and weaker because we don't have any damn money to spend. It's their fault, and they should fix it, or be prepared to suffer.

So your answer is more or less Ageism.

Screw old people's rights and the fact that they can do the job better because the young need jobs.

Seriously?

I'm not sure quite how to argue this other then saying it's a HUGE violation of peoples rights, based soley on their age ignoring their capabilities.

I think that is more of the problem.

Every one is free to make their own decisions. They also have to live with those. displacing blame makes it hard to get ahead as you will not solve the real problem.

If it comes down to a one-or-the-other scenario, then yes. They should make room for us, knowing that our need is greater than theirs, because if our careers start out stunted, everything is going to be messed up for the next 45 years for everyone.

If the whole system has rigged itself to guarantee that i cannot get a job, how is that my fault? I'm out here trying and getting nowhere, despite following the advice of what i "should" be doing. If you try your hardest and fail, who's fault is it?

I blame employers and Baby Boomers, and it'll be on them when i become permanently unemployable because of toxic federal debt due to a student loan default that is no fault of my own whatsoever, because the system has made sure that i can get neither low-level nor high-level employment no matter how hard i try.