Lost generation? Recession and the young

We’ve been talking recently in vLabs blog about how unemployment is affecting young people in the UK; looking at

the role of volunteering as a lifeline during hard times, how employers could help and some of the creative ways young people have been responding to adversity.

Of course, the recession is not just impacting on young people in the UK.

Here, I thought I would share some of the best journalism I’ve come across which highlights how young people are being affected

by the recession in other countries.

The New York Times leads the way with an interesting look at the development of Rural Labour Squads in Japan. In

Europe, TIME’s cover page story, ‘Generation Disappointment’, looks in-depth at the impact of the recession on young people in Spain. Foreign Policy magazine looks wider, at how young Europeans face a declining jobs market, ‘Europe’s New Lost Generation’.

In the US, PBS and the veteran broadcast journalist Judy Woodruff have recorded a great series of interviews in, Generation Next: Tough Choices, looking at how 18-to-25-year-olds or trying to start their lives in one of the most challenging economic times in recent memory. For the figures and trends of youth unemployment in the US, check out Bob Herbert’s Op-Ed.

by Report Digital

In the UK, the Economist’s, ‘No Way to Start in Life’ and the Guardian’s, ‘Young People and Unemployment’ coverage is informative.

In this context, v has been working hard to get volunteering seen as an important part of the response to youth unemployment.

We’re thrilled to be hosting with the RSA a lecture by Professor David Blanchflower, the leading labour economist and recent member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee from June 2006-May 2009, who will deliver a keynote address on the recession and the young.

We’ve then got an impressive panel lined-up – David Willetts MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Universities and Skills, Terry Ryall, CEO, v, Wes Streeting, President, National Union of Students and Miles Templeman, Director-General, Institute of Directors – to debate what can be done to prevent a generation losing hope and opportunity.

Be there.