Yesterday there was a documentary on TV about the young and unemployed in Europe. The documentary started with a group of young people sitting in a coffee shop, a typical gathering place for the unemployed youth. According to the TV reporter, they have been doing nothing for years except sat in coffee shop and felt angry. Many of them were college graduates but could not find jobs. One of them talked to the reporter: “My name is Giovanni, I have a degree in literature and wanted to work for a publishing company or government but with the current recession, there is no job.” Another young man added: “We are losing hope; we have been looking for jobs for two years but found nothing. Even people with experience also could not find job so we do not know what to do. There is no future for us.”
Not far from the coffee shop is a restaurant where a young graduate named Gregory worked. He said: “I have a degree in architect from the best university. I hoped to work for a construction company but after two years of finding job, there was none. Now I am working as an assistant cook in this restaurant. Everybody says I am lucky because I have a job, but if you think this could be the job of my life, it is humiliating(làm xấu hổ),” Another young woman also worked in the restaurant added: “I have a degree in business administration but most businesses do not hire new graduates because there are thousands of people with business degree and experience also looking for job. The banking and financial crisis had destroyed many banks and many jobs. They told me that it would take another five to ten years for the economy to recover. Now I am working as a dishwasher here but I never imagine it could happen to a college graduate like me.”
According to a European Commission report, currently there are more than 6 million unemployed young people across Europe and the number is increasing every year. The youth unemployment rate in Greece and Spain has climbed to 53 percent. That rate is 36 percent in Portugal, 34 percent in Italy and 23 percent in France. Globally, one in eight people under the age of 25 is unemployed. The report warned that although many of them are living with their parents but without quick action, the frustration(thất vọng) and hopelessness could explode into social and political issues. The unemployment rate also has been linked to rising crime among young people and a higher incidence of depression(trầm cảm), drugs, and alcohol.
In Spain, college students and recent graduates who call themselves “Juventud sin Futuro” (Youth without Future) have taken to the streets to demonstrate against government policies. A student named Carlos explained: “The government encourages us to go to college then abandon us. I have a degree in finance but the financial sector collapsed so there is no future for us. Everything is bad and I feel very angry now.” The youth employment crisis is now spreading throughout Europe, where young people have the same feeling of hopelessness, fear, and anger. Of course, European governments have been struggling to solve this problem for years but in this global recession(suy thoái kinh tế) they cannot do much. Most of the actions are temporary short term such as low interest loans for company or encourage young people to start their own business.
At the same time, their technology industry is facing another crisis, the lack of skilled workers to fill the needed jobs and help the economy. Last year several European governments passed immigration laws to allow technology companies to bring in foreign skilled workers from India and China to fill the gap. UK allow 40,000 computer programmers from India to enter but later change the number to 60,000. This year it may increase to 100,000 or more. Of course, the influx(dòng) of foreign workers is not popular with their unemployed citizens but in every newspaper, there are hundreds of job openings in technology areas that go unfilled. One professor admitted: “We never anticipate this; our education system has been doing the same thing for hundreds of year without changing. There is big gap between what schools teach and what the country needs resulting in high unemployment among our graduates when there are so many jobs opening in the industry.”
Prof John Vu
Carnegie Mellon University
Original source: http://www.segvn.org/forum/mvnforum/viewthread_thread,1721
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