This is my first diary and it is off the cuff. I have been reading how the current 'generation' is being called the 'lost generation'. As they hit the job market they are finding few opportunities so are living longer at home, delaying marriage, and so on.
I can't help but see similarities to another version of the 'lost generation', namely those who graduated from high school and college during the early to mid 1970s, especially the recession of 1973-75. At that time the 73-75 recession was deemed 'the worst since WWII'.
There are similarities and differences. A recap: 1972-75 unemployment rose from 5% -9% in a year and a half and was a lot higher in many regions. The Arab oil embargo hit in 1973.(my first job,in 1973, after hitting the pavement for awhile with no success, was a part time job at a self serve gas station.) Fresh on the job market,this 'sub-generation' could not complete for better jobs with the multitude of boomers who were 5-10 years ahead of us.( I remember competing for waitress jobs that paid 99 cents an hour. Later I worked on field harvest crews, as a dishwasher, etc, all hard won jobs.)
It is difficult to explain the level of inter-generational turmoil at the time for those who do not remember it. For many youth, family relations were already so stormy as we grew from childhood through adolescence, 'living at home' was not an option. For those from lower middle class and middle class homes, 'living at home ' was also not an option. Money was tight , there were other kids coming along, and that bedroom was in demand. Parents were not able to fund their child's college education. It was sink or swim, and most of the people I knew had to swim.
In addition the country was in turmoil culturally. Like many , I was a kid in a traditional household when older hippies were out experiencing the summer of love. I was deeply affected by the assassination of Martin Luther King ,Jr., and Bobby Kennedy. I was deeply influenced by the first Earth Day and Watergate. The draft was still in place. Too young and sheltered for anti-war protests, I began to see friend's older brothers, boyfriends and fathers coming home in bodybags. In my pre-teen world I loved Rock and music and like any kid, and increasingly wore the style of the 70s I was entering ,rather than the style of my upbringing.
But enough background. What I saw happen when legions of kids left high school and college and home in the early and mid 70s was that a confusing , scattered world with few visible open doors, let alone 'welcome' mats awaited us in the mainstream economy.
Many of that generation, frustrated and disillusioned with the mainstream, tried to leave it by going 'back to the land', by trying to join with older 'dropouts' to forge a counterculture that did not depend on the mainstream economy.
Analysis always highlights the cultural aspects of this trend, but I see it as largely a result of the economic troubles of the era as well. There was no money. goods were expensive. Many of those who 'dropped out' took up residence in the cheapest housing, cramming as many people as possible into run down older houses, or creating housing 'off the grid' . They grew food, experimented with alternative power (and yes, there was the ubiquitous doobie.) People my age were usually the grunts of the movement, not the architects. A lot of us believed in what we were doing ,but we were also just scrapping , trying to weather the recession.
My first 'opportunity came in the form of a Jimmy Carter era program called PLS ,or 'Program for local Service'. PLS was a 'volunteer' program that paid "$200 per month and food stamps" for one year. Not much money even in those days, but it was something you could do and feel like you were contributing AND making a little steady money.. PLS volunteers organized and ran community programs such as community gardens, gleaning programs, summer education sessions for poor kids, trail renovation , reading programs for kids, etc.
From there on I was able to get better seasonal jobs and start putting myself through college. The country emerged from the recession of the Nixon-Ford-Carter era into the regression of the Reagan era and we went from acid rock to anthem rock to hairbands, disco, punk and so on....
My point is , I think a lot of people 'disappeared' from the statistics during the long and lingering recession of the 1970s. It will be interesting to see how the new 'lost' generation responds to economic and cultural forces.