Society and the economy change. Rapidly. And these two entities could care less about individuals. The economy doesn’t care whether you are smart or dedicated or even hard working. You don’t get rewarded for these things in and of themselves. You get rewarded for applying your attributes to society as it currently is.
Did you just go to law school because you thought you liked to analyze stuff and now you graduate and find there are no jobs practicing law?
Did you just graduate college as a true thinker only to realize you are a non-glorified administrative assistant?
Did you just try to get out of a job you didn’t like, only to find, without ultra-specialized knowledge, there’s nothing for you on the other side?
Did you think the world owed you something?
The economy and more specifically the jobs picture, suck. And they aren’t going to get better. The economy is largely dominated by large corporations and ultra small businesses. Neither are particulary interested in hiring. They are interested in automating, making more with less, replacing expensive humans with simpler systems and machines.
It’s going to remain this way. At least until baby boomers retire. And baby boomers have just started hitting retirement age. Oh, and there’s no way they are going to retire “on time” because they too need the money. They all blew their wad on expensive vacations, status symbol cars, and expensive educations for us twenty and thirty somethings.
That’s part of what they call structural unemployment. Another part of structural unemployment is jobs going overseas. You’ve heard about this one. There are other factors, but the point is, it’s structural.
One of the best pieces I have seen on this issue is A Message to My Generation from Leigh Drogen
What can you do? Doing your own thing and living cheaper like Drogen suggests are not just options, but really need to be incorporated into whatever you do.
You can also examine where society is heading. A lot of people are going to make their fortunes (many many more are going to make their livings) taking care of this old population. And I don’t just mean care in the way you are thinking. What does an aging person want? More importantly, what do they NEED. But this is just one guy talking. You’re as smart as I am. What do you see for the future?