It’s the end of an era. The parentally-subsidized idle urbanites of New York aren’t getting the fundage they used to, and they have to get paying jobs now. Or move in with their parents. (Here I thought living with my parents after college was too much parental subsidy.) While Gawker’s coverage of this story is not to be missed, let’s look at it through a Consumerist lens, shall we?

Luis Illades, an owner of the Urban Rustic Market and Cafe on North 12th Street, said he had seen a steady number of applicants, in their late 20s, who had never held paid jobs: They were interns at a modeling agency, for example, or worked at a college radio station. In some cases, applicants have stormed out of the market after hearing the job requirements.

“They say, ëYou want me to work eight hours?’ ” Mr. Illades said. “There is a bubble bursting.”

I rolled my eyes in frustration, then realized that those paragraphs describe far too many of my college friends. Eight hours? Of work? Man, it’s like something out of a 19th-century textile mill. I bet they even make you turn your iPhone off during a shift.

In all seriousness, though, this is an awful time to be looking for one’s first paying job…especially with a skill set that seems more attuned to the dot-com boom.

(Photo: rollanb)

Parental Lifelines, Frayed to Breaking [New York Times]
Financial Crisis Forcing Hipsters To Be Weaned Off the Parental Teat [Gawker]

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