GirlTalk

The economy. Talking about it has become a cliche of a cliche. You hear about it everywhere: Gas prices, the housing market, grocery bills, the works. Okay. As a young, single woman, I must admit this whole thing is affecting me on a different level than what’s being discussed in the news.

I’m of the generation of recent college graduates who, placing their trust in ‘doing the right thing,‘ worked my way through high school and college (and I mean worked, as in at one point during my junior year I was working three part-time jobs in addition to going to class), took out student loans and swore to myself that it would be worth it. For the most part, it has been. Financially, however, I worry about my future every day and am wondering, as this recession continues and if it is to deepen as predicted, how the rest of my life will be affected by it.

I grew up near Detroit, graduted from Michigan State University well-versed in extra curricular activites and internships and couldn’t find a job to save my life (Michigan’s economy has been plumeting for years and nearly every friend I had from college had to leave in order to find work). I left home and moved to Virginia about a year ago in hopes of starting my career in journalism at The News Virginian. This is all fine and dandy but it leads me to my point.

Myself, along with the majority of my friends and classmates from college, are entering the job market (and esentially, our adult lives) in the midst of terrible and uncertain times. We are educated, smart, filled with enthusiam and skilled ... and we are underpaid and on the bottom rung of our career ladders and essentially disposable to many companies who are looking to cut costs during these financially unstable times. Many of us, myself included are also, having just graduated, broke and financially disabled, often making less money than we need to afford to pay our debts and student loans.

It’s a scary place to be.