The overall unemployment picture in the U.S. has, more or less, gotten progressively better over the past few years. According to Trading Economics, a site that provides financial data from over 230 countries, the rate of Americans actively searching for jobs has steadily decreased since the new year to 7.5%, which is a vast improvement from the 9.1% mark set in the summer of 2011.
Whether those figures should still be treated as alarming is up for debate, but one thing is undeniable: the situation has gotten better. The same, however, cannot be said for the more youthful of us.
According to CBS, the national unemployment rate for workers ages 25 and under hit 16.2% this past April, while workers ages 18 to 34 make up 45 percent of the unemployed.
To the "dude" sitting at home, weeks fresh off grabbing your degree and with unwanted time to read this article at 12 noon, this may not come as a surprise. Besides, you're probably already concerned, what with decreasing wages for graduates and rapid increases in the nation's student loan debt.
What you may not know, however, is just to what extent the world joins you in such misfortune.
You may be pleased, depending on how cynical you are, or sorry, depending on how compassionate you are, to know that things can get much worse. Take Greece and Spain for example. Those countries both have an unemployment rate that tops a flabbergasting 60%.
The jobless among Italy's youth, meanwhile, between 15 and 24 years old, is at a staggering 38%.
Overall in Europe, there are six million people under the age of 25 who are unemployed, a number that, according to this New York Times article, is about a quarter of that age group of the continent.
Twenty percent of Brazil's samba-loving youth are unemployed. BBC says that South Africa's unemployment rate among youths has been as high as 50%. The message: all over the world, Generation-Y is struggling in the job market. Things could be worse.
The difference? We're the ones dealing with a collective $1 trillion in student debt. So it's time to get motivated and make something of yourself.
For that, Elite Daily is here to help.
