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High rates of unemployed people in democracies around the world have become threatening to growth and prosperity. Most governments have it on their agendas to fight it back .
Leaving the underlying structures and systems that we think might have caused such a societal disease and disregarding of various political opinions and attempts to deal with it, I intend to look into the future asking myself what are the long-term consequences of unemployment and how will it influence the worldviews and life styles of future generations?
For any young individual it is a sad thing to know that unemployment is statistically high, but it might also be taken as a challenge . "Old" people - employed or unemployed - see the mere phenomenon "employment" as something selfevident and real. Something to count on and to grow with .
Young people, aquainted to and "plugged in" to virtual networks and cyber spaces, I think, will not just surrender to the fact that maybe no one is prepared to hire them for a regular work, putting them on a pay-roll .
They see other opportunites to make a living. Very often, I think, they will become skilled in applying for various public allowances or subsidies .
The European Union, an increasing global awareness, international networking and instant access to other parts of the world by tele - and datacommunications furnish even more opportunities and give an edge to the challenge .
As I see it, to-day's young people and those of the next generation will not necessarily suffer from the prevailing state of high unemployment. They will rather accept the fact that "employment is low" but "so what"? Or they will just regard unemployment as a historic concept whih made life hard for past generations. Of course contemporary events, short episodes as well as long-lasting states of unbalance in the prerequisites of humanity will effect attitudes, norms and values of those that endure them. Children having been brought up under conditions where either or both of their parents have lost their jobs, might carry with them a feeling of animosity or "revenge" but so many other things in their environment and experience will actually have a lasting influence on their worldviews and lifestyles .
Let me also say that I think that the conceptual "dualism" or "oppositeness" in the wordpair employer - employee will change or even cease to exist. Coming generations will have need for and create a market place for skill, competence, and value-added services where formal conditions of employment will become irrelevant. Such changes will not take place over night but, then again, worldviews and lifestyles rarely do that .
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