Reading 2

Unit 4- Reading 2

Page 57

Changing the future

Young people in many Western cultures want to become independent. They want to live away from their parents. They want to have a job. They want to earn their own money.

They want to get married. They want to have children. They want to have a home in a nice community. However, it is hard for young adults in many parts of the world to become independent. One factor is that they cannot find jobs.

WHY JOBS ARE HARD TO FIND

Automation is one reason why jobs are hard to find. Automation means that businesses use machines instead of people to do work. A shoe factory, for example, once needed many workers to cut leather and sew the pieces together. This was hard physical work. Now a machine can do this work. One machine can often do a job that once needed 20 workers to do.

As a consequence, businesses have fewer jobs to offer.

Another factor is that many jobs need workers with special training. For some jobs workers must have a university degree. Companies will not hire someone with insufficient training or without a degree. Training may take months. Earning a degree may take several years.

Consequently, many young men and women cannot get a good job. They must first finish their training or education.

Finally, the world economy has had serious problems in recent years. Businesses in many countries are not hiring new workers. There are too few jobs and too many people seeking work. As a consequence, a large number of young adults cannot find jobs.

They cannot earn sufficient money to support themselves or a family.

CHANGES IN FAMILIES

The changing job market is changing the traditional Western family. once, traditional Western family was defined as a mother and father living together with the young children. This definition has changed. Now many adult children live with their parents until they are 30 or 40 years old.

They cannot find a well-paying job. They need assistance from their parents.

Most young adults assume they will get married some day. However, they are waiting much longer than before. A.s a result, the percentage of single (unmarried) people is growing. In 1970, just 16% of people in the United States between the ages of 25 to 29 were single.

This percentage grew to 55% in 2011. In Japan today, 61% of the men are single. The average age at marriage is rising in many countries, too. In both Libya and Greece, it is 32 for men and 29 for women. In China, it is 34 for men and 29 for women. In Sweden, it is 35 for men and 33 for women.

Waiting to marry also means waiting to have children. Fewer babies are being born. This has caused a low birth rate in some countries. Lack of jobs and new marriage patterns are causing changes in many countries.