Communication and Employment/Unemployment - 1971 and 2015 Compared

An advantage or disadvantage depending upon how you look at it, of being part of a large family in these days of instant communication for example by internet (I eschew mobile phones as far as possible though Skype and the like are gradually tempting me towards say an iPhone) means that each day there are a large number of family messages in the inbox. For those of us  born in C20 say in 1940s to 1960s contacting even close adult relatives in those pre-internet days, was often difficult and expensive especially if they were working or living abroad. Indeed the cost of flights then  too was prohibitively pricey  but all that has completely changed by C21. Communication is relatively cheap instant and easy. Flights too are far more affordable though they  have become far less enjoyable on account of  airport and aircraft  'security'.

One aspect of family communications this week touched and concerned the ease or otherwise of securing secure employment  today compared with say the 1970s. My own view is that the burgeoning  C21 population  has, not at least in the UK really altered individuals' job prospects in the long term.

Of course when disasters occur such as  post Lehman Bros Banks collapsing, employment took substantial hits but this affected most of the Western world and not just the UK. Interestingly the employment statistics in both the USA (moderate left wing president) and the UK (moderate right wing prime minister) have recovered substantially  from the state they were in post banks' collapse whereas some parts of continental Europe are not so far experiencing recoveries of that nature. Greece may alter that though I am pessimistic.

The issue also arose in the family emails   whether young people in C21  say 2015 have more difficulties in securing  employment  than their counterparts did in C20  say 1972?

Personal experiences led me to make this comment:

... but "jobs were easy to come by" was not applicable  in 1971 at least as regards solicitors for it took ages and ages of searching for articles then.   I gather is much  the same today save that instead of 'articles'  the usually young  prospective solicitors look for 'training contracts'.

As for jobs generally in 2014/5,  all 4 of our children have so far found jobs after dints of searching and none have been unemployed.This probably represents the current position  of most young people ... at least in London - if you want a job you can get one. I say that because the unemployment rate in the UK is comparatively low so those who really  want jobs today especially in London should be able to get them if they make the effort and are prepared perhaps to take a lower than ideal salary but then work their way up. Of course some people perhaps through no fault of their own  have no where to live or other major difficulties which inhbit/prevent them looking from obtaining jobs but mostly people  in the UK in C21 can and do find employment if they  are able to look diligently.

Baby boomer time is more about feeding the world, CO2 and space to live  etc rather than employment   because the more people there are the more jobs are needed.

Largely bros and sisters  agreed though of course there are many other concerns today, not the least of which are feeding the world, climate change and in some cases man's inhumanity to man.