The youth unemployment is 50% in Spain and possibly 75% in the Southern peninsula. Rates are also high in Greece and Italy so this question is addressed to you as well. How are you guys staying sane and are you banding together with friends? Are you committing crimes to earn cash on the side or planning emigration to France/UK or perhaps even Latin America?

I was there in 2007 teaching Business English to executives before the crisis began and employment prospects for grads were still kind of lackluster. I can't imagine what it must be like now. Real Estate crashed (similar to the U.S.) and there aren't many sectors where Spain has a big advantage over other EU nations. I heard civil and other types of engineering along with pharma and sciences have also slowed down and most talented grads go to Germany for jobs. There goes the theory about "learn a trade that gets you a job".

What is it like now? Are most young people joining revolutionary groups? What are dating prospects like? Are women still stuck up or have they accepted reality and lowered their standards?

I am curious to know because I feel the U.S. may be entering a similar direction where young people are completely disenfranchised at some point. Probably not to the extent of Spain or Greece but it could get close.

When the recession happened here in '08-'09 I was just graduating for school and as a result I had pretty shitty jobs until 2011. Thankfully I have been blessed with luck (also a result of my interpersonal skills) and my income has dramatically increased. I remember feeling very isolated, depressed and sometimes bitter. I was stuck in the classic catch-22 and it was extremely frustrating. This was one of the darker times in my life where I truly wondered if I would ever get a job or would I have to enlist in the military or something drastic like that. A lot of my peers were in the same situation but nobody wanted to talk about it. This is what I hate about American culture is that you are expected to suffer in silence. This is the kind of culture that encourages suicide because frustrations remain bottled up and with no outlet the darkness just grows and cannot come to light.

Luckily I had family to support me at this time but I feel American culture is competitive and not at all nurturing. I would think the unemployed in Spain would be treated a little better but when working there and absorbing the culture I realize it's very possible that they are ostracized similar to how we ostracize or ignore the unemployed here.

As a Young man in your prime it can be absolutely agonizing to either be unemployed or underemployed because it goes against what you are sold by teachers and mentors. It even goes against history. I don't remember a time when youth unemployment was ever this high when studying history. It's just not natural and a waste of human capital and potential. Employers today prefer experienced workers because they don't want to spend time or money training or molding employees.

This is why in certain industries there is a tremendous demand for labor and a lack of available candidates because young people are rejected for lack of experience yet older candidates are tired of doing the job of 5 people and constantly tell HR "We need more people". My industry is one of these. There is a lack of skilled labor because we're not actively recruiting recent grads enough and training them. We keep poaching people from other firms because we are too lazy to actually train and mentor someone.

For the graduating class of '09 I think things have gotten somewhat better. I see most of my peers are finally getting good gigs. Companies in various industries are also increasing the budgets for hiring recent grads who require training. But the next recession is always around the corner. And there are only so many brilliant ideas to go around so not everyone can find the next Facebook or Snapchat in their basement. This is why I ask the question what are some things young Spaniards are doing to survive? Are they illegal or legal and do you have hope for the future?

What brought this question on and reminded me was watching this video on a young woman in Spain who cooperated with the courts to ask her upper middle class father for 500 euro per month until she graduated college: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbRIxDShsrk

This guy maybe can afford to pay but I shudder to think if this were applied to a broad spectrum in Spain and possibly here in the U.S. As it is they are locking up Men for child support now they are going to extend it until 30 years of age to cover up the consequences for Youth Unemployment.