And this is what Americas liberals want to emulate? The older generation benefited from decades of rock-solid job protection, union-guaranteed salary increases and the promise of a comfortable retirement. All this has allowed them to weather Europes longest postwar crisis reasonably well. By contrast, many younger Europeans can hope for little more than poorly paid, short-term contracts that often open a lifelong earnings gap they may never close. Employers in many countries are reluctant to hire on permanent contracts because of rigid labor rules and sky-high payroll taxes that go to funding the huge pension bill of their parents. The breach is widening: Median income for people over 60 rose between 2008 and 2012 in nearly every European Union country, according to Eurostat; it declined for people under 25 in almost half the EU countries, including in Spain, Portugal, the U.K. and Holland. This has left young people increasingly dependent on the older generation. In turn, parents are frustrated that children in their 30s and even 40s cant cut the cord.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 06:29:44 +0000
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