The latest statistics reveal that youth unemployment is the worst it’s been since World War 2.45% of people 16-29 are unemployed.

According to New York Magazine “one in five young adults now lives below the poverty line”. And it’s not just in the U.S. Young people in Europe have been going through similar situations. Their numbers are just as bad, if not worse. 51% in Spain and almost the same in Greece.

As I read through their stories, and hear similar stories from the college students in my neighborhood it’s pretty sad. Most are stuck with mountains of student loan debt that just keeps piling up. Many have finally come to the realization that they will have to wait tables or take jobs at Starbucks if they want any spending money at all.

Since I didn’t go to college, but instead went straight into the job market, I did all of those jobs anyway. But without the student loan debt. Living in NYC and working as a waiter/bartender wasn’t easy, but it was a job. And I was headed in a different direction, being an entrepreneur, so college wouldn’t really prepare me for that anyway.

In a recession it’s just going to be understood that you have to do whatever you have to do. Getting a job is easier if you already have a job, even if it’s not in your field and is way beneath what you expected. Start somewhere. It’s better than nothing. When you’re young no one expects you to have the experience yet. It’s a time you can experiment.

But it could always be worse. Youth unemployment in Somalia is 75%