Boomerang Kids: Market dynamics and moving back home. About 15 million young adults were reported living with their parents last year and according to the U. S. Department of Labor, “the unemployment rate for bachelor’s degree holders under the age of 27 is the worst since 1983” (CBS News). Those young adults are now called “boomerang kids”. So what do you do when you graduate without a job lined up? You used to go back home to try to save money or to try to repay some loans, that’s old news. Now, it’s different.

You go back home because you just can’t find a job, period. How can this be avoided? Well, according to Rich Morin, senior editor at the Pew Research Center in DC, “This recession has hit young adults particularly hard. ” (CBS News) Trying to get back on your feet isn’t that easy and the economy is one of the main causes of that trend. Hence, getting America and the economy back on track would make a big change; more openings would be created and more people would get hired and fewer kids would go back home.

How to do that, is far beyond my knowledge. However, people should think about it and work on a solution; our economy needs to do better, loan interest rates and college tuition need to go down, jobs should be created and a Bachelor’s degree should be valued for us to see the Boomeranging kid rate drop in a soon future. On another note, a lot of books are now coming out on “How to get rid of your “boomeranging kid””, or “10 things to do and not to if you child comes back home” or “The best way to avoid having your kid move back in. I want to give a big applause to some ‘writers’ for taking advantage of every possible situation and writing a “delightful” and “very useful” book, article or paper, you name it, about those. One of my favorite example is the “How to get rid of your boomerang kid” article written by Matt Brownell, in which he gives great tips to parents like “Draw up a contract”, “Charge rent” or “Provide Incentive” to your dear boomeranging child. I don’t disagree with everything but seriously, charging rent and drawing up a contract seems a bit too extreme for the situation.

After all, the reason kids are back is because they have no money and because they can’t find a job. There is no need to add to the equation making them feel like they failed. Of course, there will always be the special case where someone will get stuck in that situation and not move on. In that case, I agree with Thom Fox of Cambridge Credit Counseling Corp. , who states that you have to “Go in there with a plan – establish how long they’ll be staying, what kind of chores are expected of them and how much they’re required to donate to monthly obligations. (Los Angeles Times) If you don’t get a job after your bachelor’s degree, it seems like getting a phD or a Doctorate isn’t really worth it for certain jobs anymore. Yes, the past advantage of college graduates in the job market is eroding but should the Bachelor degree be downgraded to a mere option to get a job? I don’t think so; I think it should be valued; I think that it should be the plus that gets you a job; the plus that doesn’t make a boomerang kid; so why is it the opposite?

I talked about the economy but I can’t change that; however, I can advise certain people to reconsider going to college and think about other alternatives. A few years ago, I would have been the first one to advocate, going to college, getting a Bachelor’s degree and a doctorate. Now, I say, go to community college, try to save money. Take your time, not forever, but choose your major wisely and reconsider “communications” or “graphic design”. Take a job while in college, do an internship and try to get some experience in your field of study.

It’s a fact; people with experience are more likely to get hired right out of college. Not enough people take the initiative; be bold; a job will not fall from a tree straight up in your hands; that time is over. Finally, be realistic. The “dream job” doesn’t really exist; take any job in which “going up the ladder” is possible. I wouldn’t go as far as Charles Murray. Indeed according to him: “ As president, Mr. Obama should use his bully pulpit to undermine the bachelor’s degree as a job qualification. (565) Instead, we should “substitute certification tests, which would provide evidence that the applicant has acquired the skills the employer needs. ” (567) In theory, this is a good idea except it’s unrealistic. Think about how many “certification tests” employers would have to create for every different position; not to mention the hours they would have to put in watching people take tests, creating new tests every year and making sure the tests are up to date. It is too much of a hassle.

In addition, a lot of students would drop out of college, universities would lose money and their qualifications wouldn’t even be universally recognized. Back to the subject, would this even make that the boomeranging kids rate drop? Probably not, because even though a whopping 85% of college seniors planned to move back home with their parents after graduation last May, according to a poll by Twentysomething Inc. , at least they had a degree. Kids are moving back home because high unemployment -nearly 15% for those ages 20-24 – has made finding a job nearly impossible.

Undermining the Bachelor degree would not fix unemployment; on the contrary I think it would make it worse. The other cause of high boomerang kids rate is the rising of the student loan interest rate. For students out of college, it is harder and harder to repay what has been lent to them. It is a vicious cycle, as college tuition is rising, students need more and more money to graduate. In the mean time, student loans are getting more common and interest rates are rising. Finally, students end up with a degree but a closed job market and more loans then before, because they can’t repay them.

About politicians, investment banks, and Wall-Street traders that already profited and speculated on the recent financial crisis, while the majority of the middle class is just suffering; I believe they have earned enough money, being greedy is unacceptable. “The average student loan interest rate increased from 3% in 2006 to around 7% in 2011” (CBS News) according to the US Treasury. As if this wasn’t enough, “University of California regents debate a budget plan that could lead to tuition increases of 8% to 16% a year through 2015-16. (Los Angeles Times) The cost of education is getting really expensive; at this rate, I wonder where we will stand in 10 years. Is getting a degree going to be a privilege? For the next generation, I hope not. Finally, to me, it feels like we are just making everything more difficult for the people who are going to college, trying to get a job and making both ends meet. And all that in what purpose? The big hole, the debt, our major problem, because fixing it will make everything better, it will create jobs, restart our economy, and people will earn a lot of money and the world will go round again.

But will it really? Works Cited CBS News. “Money Rules For “Boomerang” Kids” Breaking News Headlines: Business, Entertainment ; World News – CBS News. 9 July 2009. Web. 22 Sept. 2011. ;http://www. cbsnews. com/stories/2009/07/09/earlyshow/contributors/raymartin/main5146269. shtml;. Brownell, Matt. “How to Get Rid of Your Boomerang Kid. ” Business ; Financial Headlines and Advice | Personal Finance ; Savings and Credit Card Debt Advice | Mainstreet. com. 19 Apr. 2011. Web. 22 Sept. 2011. ;http://www. mainstreet. om/article/family/how-get-rid-your-boomerang-kid? page=4;. Murray, Charles. “ Should the Obama Generation Drop Out?. ” Current Issues and Enduring Questions: a Guide to Critical Thinking and Argument, with Readings. 9th edition. Sylvan Barnet and Hugo Bedau. Boston: Bedford/St Martin’s, 2011. 565-567. Gordon, Larry. “UC Regents Recoil at Possibility of Annual Steep Tuition Hikes – Latimes. com. ” Los Angeles Times – California, National and World News – Latimes. com. Web. 22 Sept. 2011. <http://www. latimes. com/news/local/la-me-uc-20110916,0,1857683. story? track=rss>.