~Recent News~
So recently I heard that the United States is the most clinically depressed nation in the world. As a whole I believe that Americans jump way too easily towards pills to fix everything instead of genuine effort, but here is why I am feeling stressed out and pessimistic.
As a college graduate the hope and expectation is that you will be able to find a job, a job hopefully in your field of expertise, that will pay the bills. After watching my brother immediately find employment in his field that was salaried and sufficient for him to live off of as well as pay back student loans. I was completely unprepared to graduate with a dual BA and 7 certificates to my name to find myself making less than I would per year than I could have made at my job with out a degree. If you knew me back in high school, you knew I was a lifeguard. From there I fell into a LGI (lifeguard instructor) position. If I had worked full time at that position I would have made $23,000 a year before taxes. It doesn't sound great or even like a sustainable salary in this day and age. However, after college it would take me until now, nearly five years after graduation to make $20,000 a year before taxes. Still not enough to pay the bills on.
Looking at the US as a whole, this is what I see. The baby boomer generation lost their retirement savings in the recent "recession" and as a result are doing one of two things. One, they are either not retiring at a normal age. Or two, they are retiring and then getting a job in the service industry or some other part time work. Either way the younger generation is losing out on decent paying jobs that the baby boomers enjoyed at a young age.
On a recent flight with a young professional we discussed the state of things, and looking at the age group from 25-35 year old that the two of us knew there are a startlingly high number of couples living apart from their significant other due to employment difficulties. Maybe I am wrong but I don't believe this was ever the case in previous generations barring the World War eras.
I read an article today that said that it was a great time to be a young pilot/instructor. The reason the article said was because we are coming up to a time in which there will be an extreme pilot shortage in the next few years. Unfortunately I am not as optimistic because by next year there will be a huge barrier to entry to the airlines set in place requiring all pilots to have 1500 hours and an ATP(airline transport pilot) certificate, which is the FAA's highest pilot certificate. While this is a good thing in terms of safety for the flying community it is a horrible thing for young pilots. That means either buying all those hours placing themselves under even more crippling debt or working in low paying pilot jobs that provide barely enough income to live on much less pay off the mountain of debt incurred from college tuition with flight fees on top. Add all of this to Regional airlines where all these young pilots will be hoping to be hired into paying $27 per flight hour at the most. Some people would look at that and say, "well that isn't too bad." But just wait for it, because the hammer hasn't dropped yet. That price per hour is based on a 72-75 hour month guarantee, which is less than half of what a normal full time employee can expect.
After jumping the new barrier to entry, however costly that may be, and then an additional five years of service as a first officer at your regional airline you might achieve a top salary of $40 per hour which taking into account the 75 hour guarantee means you will only be making $35,000 per year. It took me 4 years after graduating college to get 1500 hours of flight time. That means that it would take me 9 years after college to make what a starting teacher fresh out of college would make, and everyone knows/jokes about how poorly teachers are paid.
Now you know why I am up at one in the morning feeling nauseated worrying about the future.
