It’s Their Fault

Judith Rosen says: of course.

…almost half of America’s youngest workers believe the nation’s best days may have come and gone

…Between the bookends of the Roosevelt and Reagan administrations, Americans, their employers, and government entered into an implied agreement that afforded citizens a basic level of economic security if they worked hard and took responsibility for their families. Today, that 20th century social contract is in tatters, and eight in 10 of us yearn for a new bargain to help meet 21st century challenges.

Young people are leading the trend. Ninety percent say the social contract is broken and 87 percent — the largest portion in any age group — are calling out for a new one.

Rodin makes a good case for the fact that the free market has surrendered any sense of human responsibility in the economy: workers expect no safety net from their employers, and employers get no loyalty from workers.  And, even as the younger generation increasingly moves toward freelance work, the government offers no support either.

I’m not bemoaning the end of the age of “mothership” companies that housed / imprisoned employees in ho-hum jobs for 30 years, but do suggest that the government needs to recognize this change and start finding new, realistic ways of allowing new mobile/freelance employees to get decent wages and insurance.