The crisis is raging especially against Spaniards between 18 and 24 years old. They live with their parents and have abandoned the idea of buying a house or a car because they could not afford neither the mortgage nor the bills. Very well prepared and connected to new technologies, they can no longer even aspire to become mileuristas. And they spend a large part of their free time participating in social networks on the internet.They live with their parents and have abandoned the idea of buying a house or a car because they could not afford neither the mortgage nor the bills. They are very well trained, but they cannot find work and spend a large part of their free time participating in social networks on the Internet. Are we talking about mileuristas? No. That term that Carolina Alguacil, an advertising agency employee, invented in 2005 has gone out of fashion. Neither are denominations that used a capital letter -X, Y …- to differentiate between them. Now, the generation of men and women between 18 and 24 years old receives other names that imply as little or even less future than the one with which we distinguished those who received salaries that were close to 1,000 euros.
While some label today’s youth as the new lost generation , others prefer to call them baby losers , that is, failed children . But the most pessimistic do not beat around the bush and already refer to them as Generation Zero . Yes, just like those first vacuum tube computers born during World War II. The difference is that those pots had a promising future.
The famous mileuristas presented a similar profile: well qualified, without a car, without a house, without children … However, they had something – little, but something – that nowadays don’t even smell. Contemporary losers dream of that handy thousand euros with which their predecessors got ahead. The problem is precisely the lack of job opportunities after finishing school. Just five years ago, the youngest could, with some luck, become dinkies – an acronym for double income no kids , something like double salary, no children. Many couples who had reached between 25 and 30 years gave up having children for the sake of their financial comfort. With two salaries and a reasonable rent or mortgage they sometimes even managed to maintain a high standard of living. They became an object of desire for many brands and the target to which many advertising agencies directed their advertisements.
The JASPs are back, although now with an uncertain future
But the prospects have changed rapidly. Now, getting a college degree ensures absolutely nothing; the mere fact of leaving the parents’ home becomes an impossible mission. In the last year, nightlife outings have plummeted, from six to one per month. The global crisis is beating mercilessly those who are living their early youth.
However, the Planeta Espido Freire Prize, author of the booksMileuristas. Portrait of the thousand euro generationYThe generation of a thousand emotions: mileuristas II, believes that precisely they are better placed to weather the storm. ?Thecrisis the mileuristas are going to eat it and thehinge generation. Those of the zero will achieve promotions and higher income.? Many want to trust his words.
Predictions aside, it seemsthe famous term JASP -Young Although Sufficiently Prepared-, invented by the advertising creative Miguel García Vizcaíno to sell a car brand in the mid-90s, is back on top, as if closing a cycle. Although at the moment it would be necessary to add the acronym FI, that is, with Uncertain Future. The figures leave no room for doubt: according to data from the Labor Force Survey for the third quarter of 2009, anda there are about 1.3 million young people between the ages of 20 and 29 looking for work, which is 53% more than just a year ago. If we count from the age of 16, they add up to more than a million and a half. Of those unemployed, more than 290,000 have higher education and 26,000 have never worked. Another chilling fact, unparalleled in the European Union: of the 1.4 million jobs destroyed in the last two years, 90% corresponded to people under 30 years of age. Antonio López Peláez, doctor in Sociology and Social Tendencies and professor at the UNED, is in direct contact with the youngest of these unemployed people and has studied their behavior in depth. ? They are between 18 and 24 years old, are regular on Twitter and Facebook and show much more interest than their predecessors in political life. But that is not what makes them zero, but what society offers them. They are very well prepared people with very few possibilities. There area lot of mismatch between their training and the job to which they have access?, Explain.
López Peláez points out other features of the zero, apart from job insecurity: they are children who are very loved and desired by their parents, they have one or two siblings and they grow up in a multicultural context “and very powerful from the social point of view, especially in the section that goes from 14 to 18 years old “, in his own words.
Internet, a key tool to connect and mobilize
While studying or looking for work, the members of the new generational group move like a fish in water ininternet. In addition, the fact of living in that mixed-race society – it is much more so than that of their parents, of course – provides them with a greater breadth of vision. ? A new batch of politicians and committed people will emerge from here. Social media is making them veryparticipatoryAnd there is a lot of will to mobilize ?, says López Peláez.
For sample, a button. The launch of theBolonia planIn the European Union, it has led to the largest student protest in Spain in the last 25 years. The mobilizations began in 2001, but have intensified dramatically in the last two years. On October 22, 2008, demonstrations took place in 60 Spanish cities simultaneously. Around 120,000 students took to the streets.
Indeed, it has been years since so many young people have been seen shouting the same slogan in unison. Many of the calls were launched through Facebook. According to a report by the consulting firm Xperience Consulting and Findasense, no less than 83% of young people use thesocial mediato find out, interact and, if necessary, mobilize. Tuenti, MySpace and the aforementioned Facebook are the favorites.
Sociologists also point out that there is a very important component of anti-establishment protest within the Zero Boys and Girls. These are organized groups, perfectly structured and with a good educational level. Although they sometimes show a violent face, they can usually be defined assolidarity, with a strong ecological conscience and an overwhelming convening power through mobile phones and the internet. In fact, new technologies provide feedback and create new groups. Thus they fight against a very precarious employment scenario and express their opposition to the economic, real estate or educational system.Precisely because of the lack of employment, they have plenty of time to protest.
“They have internalized the results of 20 years ofneoliberalism. As for not leaving their parents’ house, I think that has always happened, except during the boom years and junk mortgages, “continues López Peláez. The truth is that the number of young people who lived alone in rent has decreased drastically in recent months, as shown by the offer of shared flats on real estate portals such as Idealista.com: in the first half of 2009, the offer increased by 37% compared to the end of the previous year and by 50% compared to to all of 2008.Being single today is complicated: it is much more expensive than a few years ago. Of course, not everyone can afford to besingle.
In any case, the Spanish who still live with their parents are better viewed than the Japanese. There they are labeled, directly, as single parasites. Precisely, this Asian country is one of those that is most noticing the dark perspectives of its young people, immersed in circumstances similar to ours.
Los baby losers
The French sociologist Louis Chauvel, professor at the Institute of Political Studies in Paris, was the first to coin the expressionbaby losers. He contrasted it with the label baby boomers, children born between World War II and the 1960s, when the birth rate in the Western world soared. In May 2008, Chauvel anticipated in an interview with the British newspaperThe Guardianhow the incipient crisis was going to affect the failed kids of today. I was talking about the French at the time, although time has made these characteristics applicable to the rest of the Western world as well. “They are between the ages of 20 and 40 and a worse quality of life awaits them than that of their parents. They have completed an average of three more years of studies than they did, but they have gotten a worse job; that is, when they work. .The determining key to being successful in France today is not your educational level, but the financial capacity of your parents.That is, whether or not they can keep you until you turn 30 while you try to find a niche in a very closed job market. “
Thebaby losersin effect, they benefit from the fate of their parents. Because although many raise their voices against consumerism, the truth is that none of them lack a mobile phone, their digital camera and an mp3 player, at least. They are the kings of technology, there is no advance that escapes them and incorporates them into their daily lives.
Surco, 36, does not think his profile fits thegeneration zero-He considers himself closer to those of the X-, but he knows it well. He was one of those guys who a few years ago decided to launch a blog to reflect the socio-political situation of his peers. Mileurismo.com began as an instrument of protest against what he and his friends described as passive youth. “The web arose among a group of friends that we never saw each other. One of the reasons for the loss of contact was that we dedicated the money to pay the mortgage instead of to go out. The mileuristas of then are the unemployed of now, and they face as many or more problems for the future than generation zero itself. I have a degree in history, I have three master’s degrees and several doctoral courses in economics. “
The reflections of Surco – nickname of the Bilbao-born Ricardo Reinares – are those of a person who has gone through everything and who at different times in his life has fitted in perfectly with the profile of his demographic group. “The problem, both of themileuristas, the X or the zero, is calledplug generation, before mine, thatHe entered positions of responsibility very young and does not let them go. They are going to make it difficult for us to get to a satisfactory place. Nobody really knows where we are going, and unions only fight for older people. “
TheRed, an element in which young people, whatever we call them, move wonderfully, is full of cases that exemplify the current situation of uncertainty. One of them is that of the Malviviendo boys, eight Sevillians between 15 and 35 years old who have found a way out of the crisis by creating an audiovisual fiction for the web. They explain themselves: “after finishing our studies and swelling the unemployment lists, we decided to step up and create our own series without a production budget, with few technical means and a lot of imagination.” The daily traffic of this “hooligan, transgressive and mold-breaking” production is close to 20,000 visitors. It has already received the support of BBVA through its Open Talent project, aimed at fresh ideas based on technology.
This is just one example of the support provided by some large companies to new promotions, aware of their capabilities and their problems. Between 2008 and 2009, the Vodafone Foundation, for example, has formed45 educational mini-companies for entrepreneursages 16-19 through a program that allows them to create their own business.
You have to keep training … waiting for better times
There are those who take this situation of lack of expectations with a sense of humor, as is the case of Toni Ortiz, who posted six-minute videos on the internet that, under the titleMileurista recipes for realistic youngsters, suggested different culinary alternatives to those who have a limited budget to fill the fridge. The success of these proposals was resounding. With ingenuity and a close language he managed to get into his pocket hundreds of Internet users without possible. The months go by andthousands of young people continue to face a very dark future every day. As hundreds of businesses close or lay off many of their workers, inexperienced baby losers are waiting for their first job. You can also look on the positive side: these are good times to continue training and it seems that, according to analysts, many will have to continue doing so for at least a couple of years.Spain has the highest youth unemployment in Europe, followed by France, Italy and Portugal. Parents of generation zero offspring still have time to go back to cooking for just two.
Lola Delgado
