Goldman Sachs Infographic On Millennials

The recession in 2008 had a cascading effect that was a huge detriment to our economic progress going forward. Put aside people who were laid off and just look at those who kept their employment.

Baby boomers stayed in jobs due to decreased retirement savings, Gen X'rs didn't move into senior positions because of this, many being laid off from their company as non-essential due to being entry/mid-level, and millennials were still out of the job market.

7 years later, baby boomers are now being forced to retire by age, and with the economy recovering their retirement savings are better so they actually can. Due to the shedding of entry level employees 7 years ago there's not enough Gen X'rs with the experience to move into senior positions. Now with a massive generation of millennials looking for work, there's not enough senior staff to manage a large intake of entry level staff and train them effectively. The short-sightedness of business to cut costs by laying off skilled, educated labor during a bust cycle is going to have a lasting effect on the economic prospects for decades. The myth that millennials can just jump into senior baby boomer positions is laughable. We're not the ubermensch that will save the world in one swoop that the media is pumping us up as, even if we are better educated, making better decisions, and working harder, we're still in our early 20s and don't have the work experience in our respective industries to jump into senior positions.

I see this a lot with engineering jobs. There's tons of positions open for senior engineers while young engineers are clawing at each other trying to get on the first rung of the ladder.

The generation entering high school in the next few years will be the most secure, as long as the economy holds on for another decade, which will hopefully be long enough to train up a large percentage of millennials in their fields. With this effect there should be a good labor pipeline for Gen X'rs in senior positions, plenty of mid-level millennials to be moved to senior positions based on achievement, which can then handle a larger entry level workforce which will be the next generation.

And this is just looking at the labor market, take into account 7 years of lost spending due to job insecurity, lost wages and that just adds to the slow uptake of the economic recovery.

/r/investing Thread