Recently I've been enjoying the new longform, multimedia reporting that the New York Times has introduced. Combining lengthy in-depth reportage with video and audio features, this kind of reporting is perfect for lingering over with a pot of tea and a notebook.
One of best reads I've had recently is their multimedia report on youth unemployment in Europe. They speak to people in their twenties across Europe, mainly in the peripheral countries like Spain, Greece and Ireland, about their experiences in a moribund labor market. Most of the young people featured have had to move out of their country to get a job or are struggling along on social welfare payments.
This story really struck a chord with me because ten years ago, I was in a similar position to these young people. After graduating, I left my home country to work in Germany and while I found good career-building opportunities, I was only able to find short-term contracts, nothing permanent. This suited me at the time as I was planning to go back to graduate school so I didn't want a 'proper' job. On the other hand, it was a struggle to secure any work of value and I had to fight my corner in each job I had.
It was not a great start to my career and I always regretted my decision to start out working in Europe rather than America. It wasn't that there were no jobs in Germany and in Belgium but the workplace was dominated by older people. Good work was a privilege heavily guarded by a generation of lucky Europeans, who enjoyed conditions and benefits that were rare for the younger generation. This is an aspect of the European labor market that the NY Times article overlooks. There are plenty of large corporations and successful businesses still in Europe. They are not hiring young people, however, or if they are, they are only hiring them on temporary contracts or as interns.
There is a two-tier labor market in Europe. For those who have been in their jobs for a long time, the older generation who are established in their careers, the benefits and conditions are impressive, the stuff of American liberal media legend. For those who are marginal to the labor market - young people, part-time workers, immigrants - conditions and pay are very poor. There is no dynamism in the labor market. Employers are conservative in their hiring policies and if you are hired at all, you are expected to serve your time rather than being promoted based on ability.
Yet there is no incentive for the trade unions and ordinary employees to campaign for change to create more dynamism in the labor market because the 'job for life' system works just fine for them. Once you do have a permanent job and are in it long-term, it is a job for life, more or less. The Europeans I worked with were terrified of changing jobs and risking unemployment, which made for a sluggish, dreary work environment.
There is a two-tier labor market in Europe. For those who have been in their jobs for a long time, the older generation who are established in their careers, the benefits and conditions are impressive, the stuff of American liberal media legend. For those who are marginal to the labor market - young people, part-time workers, immigrants - conditions and pay are very poor. There is no dynamism in the labor market. Employers are conservative in their hiring policies and if you are hired at all, you are expected to serve your time rather than being promoted based on ability.
Yet there is no incentive for the trade unions and ordinary employees to campaign for change to create more dynamism in the labor market because the 'job for life' system works just fine for them. Once you do have a permanent job and are in it long-term, it is a job for life, more or less. The Europeans I worked with were terrified of changing jobs and risking unemployment, which made for a sluggish, dreary work environment.
One of the main differences I have noticed between Europe (continental Europe) and the US is the dynamic labor market. Here in Silicon Valley at least, young people are entrusted with real responsibility and high-level work straight out of college. More often than not that college will be Stanford or MIT so we are hardly talking about a paradise of equal opportunity here but it is still encouraging to be in a place where young people are given a chance to prove themselves, to learn and to progress in their careers.
Having a bad start to your career where you are looked down on for being young, expected to defer to your elders and be grateful for any scrap of work thrown your way crushes your sprit. Sure, the young people in this feature mainly had Arts backgrounds and were not exactly flexible in their approach to working life. Not finding employment in film production, arts curating or journalism, does not make you a victim of a weak economy, it is just a symptom of being in a very limited field. Still, my heart went out to these young Europeans as I remembered being in their position. It is not a good way to start your working life and the loss of talent and energy for European economies is saddening.
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