The World Socialist Web Site, publication of record of the ICFI (SEP), on May 24th released a report about the grim situation many millennials face:
The stock market is booming, and President Donald Trump is boasting at every turn that the unemployment rate is lower than it has been in five decades.
However, the working class, the vast majority of the population, is confronting an unprecedented social, economic, health and psychological crisis. The same processes that have produced vast sums of wealth for the ruling elite have left millions of workers on the brink of existence.
Perhaps no segment of the population reflects the devastating consequences of these processes so starkly as the generation of young people deemed the "millennials," those born roughly between the years 1981 and 1996. More than half the 72 million American millennials are now in their 30s, with the oldest turning 38 this year.
A recent exposé by the Wall Street Journal noted that millennials are "in worse financial shape than prior living generations and may not recover." The article, "Millennials Near Middle Age in Crisis," [paywalled] concludes by stating that people born in the 1980s are at risk of becoming "America's Lost generation."
Selected bullet points from the WSWS article:
The report concludes, "Far from becoming the 'Lost Generation' predicted by the Wall Street Journal, this generation of workers carries within it an enormous source of revolutionary potential."
[Ed. Note. I debated whether or not to run this story given the partisan source for the article, but the list of references suggested it was more than a simple opinion piece. So, are things really as grim as portrayed here? I'm too old to be a millennial, but have both personally experienced as well as witnessed many others facing the same trends listed here. Where do things go from here?]
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday May 27 2019, @09:21PM (3 children)
Um... You're not supposed to get one at all unless you either earn one by increasing your value to the company or it's a reasonably expected regular cost-of-living raise once every year to three years. If you didn't get the latter you have reason to bitch and should do so but people don't merit a raise just for existing.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday May 28 2019, @06:21AM (2 children)
*sigh*
Disagree. Whatever happened to lengevity raises? It was once recognized that unless a guy is a complete idiot, he will get better at his job as he continues to perform that job. I see people being hired at minimum wage, and five years later, he's still making minimum wage. WTF? And, forget about promotions to higher paid positions. Unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled labor are locked in place, while management "recruits" from their circle of family and friends. Craftsmen have it little better - we aren't welcome in the ranks of management, despite the fact that we are often times better qualified to manage than the idiots brought in.
The labor pool is being openly exploited, as near as I can see. Management is doing an end run around most of the gains that labor made in the last century, and labor is powerless to stop it.
And, reminder: I am most certainly NOT a union man! I don't WANT to see unions regain all the power they have lost. I just hate seeing the working man screwed over so badly.
(Score: 1, Troll) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday May 28 2019, @10:23AM (1 child)
I thought I covered that with "unless you either earn one by increasing your value to the company...". Getting better at your job is part of that but it's not worth a raise if it's not noticeable.
Labor didn't make any gains in the last century. It in fact became astoundingly less willing to work. Most improvements in a clock-punching laborer's ability to produce are entirely down to management. They made the decisions that increased productivity, labor just showed up and did what they were told.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday May 28 2019, @10:52AM
You may have covered "unless you either earn one by increasing your value to the company", but the corporations aren't covering that today. I see management regarding workers as plug and play - you plug them in, if they work, fine, if not throw them away, and try another. I do NOT see longevity raises. If anything, when a worker does contribute something above and beyond, I see some cockbiter in junior management taking full credit, and doing his best to discredit the worker who has made a contribution.
May I suggest that you re-read Upton Sinclair's 'Jungle'? Labor made enormous strides in the first half of the last century. Unfortunately, like any other base of power, they accumulated too much power, and eventually became as corrupt as the corporations they were fighting. Insert something something Neitsche here, as you gaze into the abyss.