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The struggle of the young generation
年轻一代的挣扎
The number of under-25s out of work and claiming jobseeker's allowance has increased by more than 200,000 to 456,000, over the past year, according to the latest government figures, released last week. On the wider labour market survey measure, an alarming 18.3% of 16- to-25-year-olds are unemployed.
根据英国政府上个星期(2009年6月第三周）发布的数据显示，去年25岁以上的失业和求职者的补贴金额增加了20多万，达到了45.6万英镑。根据更广泛的劳动市场调查显示，更令人担忧的是16到25岁的人群中有18.3%找不到工作。
Brendan Barber, the TUC general secretary, says: "Youth unemployment is at its highest rate for 15 years. Unemployment leaves a permanent scar on young people's lives and the government must do all it can to stop joblessness blighting another generation."
英国劳工联合会议的秘书长布伦丹巴伯表示青年失业率达到了15年来的最高点。失业会给年轻人的人生留下永久性的创伤，政府应该尽其所能地制止失业对下一代人带来的打击。”
David Blanchflower, the labour market expert who recently stepped down from the Bank of England's monetary policy committee, says that even short periods of unemployment can have a longterm "scarring" effect, affecting people's job prospects for many years.
劳动力市场专家大卫布兰费罗最近辞去了在英格兰银行货币政策委员会的职位，他说即使短期的失业也会导致长久的伤害性影响，影响人们的工作前景长达许多年。
And, unlike the many thousands of manufacturing lay-offs during the 1980s recessions, he says, a wide swathe of social groups will be hit this time, from working-class school leavers to middle-class students. "It's a call to arms for their parents and their grandparents" he says. "We need to get all parties together and say, what are we going to do about this?"
跟20世纪80年代经济衰退时成百上千的制造业下岗不同，他说，一个广泛的社会群体在这个时期受到了打击，从中途辍学的工人阶级到出生于中产阶级的学生们。“这是令他们的父母和祖父母战斗的号令，”他说道，“我们必须让所有的政党联合起来，想出解决问题的办法。”
A recent report by the CIPD revealed that nearly half of the employers it surveyed were not planning to recruit school leavers or graduates this summer. For many young adults hit by the downturn, who are relying on the generosity of parents or claiming state benefits, the normal process of growing up has been delayed: 35 is the new 25.
英国人力资源协会最近的一项报告显示在接受调查的人中将近一半的雇主在今年夏天没有招聘辍学者和学校毕业生的计划。由于经济的低迷而受打击的年轻人依靠父母的慷慨和政府的接济度日，正常的成长过程延缓了，35岁的人却像个25岁的人。
While many who came of age in the 1990s were able to buy a home with a 95% or 100% mortgage and reap the windfall as it tripled in value-or, for the luckiest, stroll into a job in the City and join the ranks of the super-rich-today the concerns of many are the more prosaic ones of finding work and earning enough to pay the bills.
然而，上世纪90年代成年的人可以用95%到100%的抵押贷款买到房子，并且随着房价上涨了3倍而大发横财。最为幸运的人，则轻松地在城区找到工作，并加入了超级富翁的行列。而当下许多人关心的更多的是找到一份工作然后养家糊口。
Wes Streeting, president of the National Union of Students, fears that graduates emerging from university this year will fare even worse than his cohorts. He calls the Class of 2009 "generation crunch".
全国学生联合会的主席韦斯·斯特廷担心今年从大学毕业的学生将遭遇比他的同龄人更恶劣的境遇。他把2009的毕业生称为“困窘的一代”。
Labour has already announced a number of measures to help: Alistair Darling promised in the budget that young people would be guaranteed a job or training place. However, with cash tight, this promise only applies to those who have already been searching for work for 12 months and Streeting says that's far too long to wait.
工党已经宣布将实施一系列的补救措施，阿里斯代尔·达林在预算中承诺保证年轻人会得到一份工作或是接受培训。但是，由于财政紧张，这个承诺只对已经找了12个月的工作的人有效，斯特廷说这样的等待时间太过漫长。
"The government needs to look again at the situation facing graduates and what they can do proactively to ensure they are not sitting around becoming depressed and disgruntled because they're unable to get a job," someone says.
“政府应该重新审视毕业时面临的困境，应该主动地确保他们不会因为找不到工作而无所事事，变得消沉不满。”有人说道。
With jobs hard to find, young people are increasingly putting their lives on hold. The National Association of Estate Agents said last week that almost seven out of 10 would-be first-time buyers have now given up hope of ever owning their own home.
由于工作难找，许多年轻人开始暂缓自己的生活。全国房地产经纪人协会上周表示，70%的将要成为第一次买房者的人放弃拥有自己的住房的希望。
There have been some tentative signs of green shoots in the UK over recent weeks and some economists have bravely begun to suggest that we may be at the end of the beginning.
英国近几周已经有了复苏的初步迹象，而且有些经济学家开始大胆的提出英国经济也许会在年底开始复苏。
But even if they are right, the impact of this 21st-century recession will last for many years. Just as the hardship of postwar rationing taught a generation of Britons to waste not, want not, grow their own and make ends meet, today's youngsters are learning tough lessons that will last a lifetime.
但就算他们是对的，21世纪大萧条的影响还会持续很多年。就像战后因配给供应的困难而使英国的一代人不浪费、不奢求、自食其力、量人为出一样，当今的年轻人也吸取了令他们终生受益的艰难的教训。
