For the first time in more than a year, the Dow closed above 10,000 on Wednesday
Assuming the majority of ASU students aren’t avid investors in the stock market, the news probably doesn’t generate much excitement.
However, the stock market has long been considered an indicator of the economy, and when Wall Street starts looking up, Main Street starts to feel a little more hopeful.
That being said, economists are wary of predicting a sudden bounce back for the average American.
Those planning on graduating this year have no doubt spent time contemplating the future. Plan A: Find a really good job that pays; Plan B: Find a job that pays; Plan C: Go back to school; Plan D: Rely on President Barack Obama to bail you out. Or something along those lines.
On a daily basis, our lives don’t necessarily feel different than they did last fall, but in reality we are in the middle of the worst economic situation since the Great Depression.
We may not see people lining up to get some free soup, and we may not notice an upswing in shantytowns (depending on how you look at Arizona’s foreclosure rate), but how many people do you know have lost their jobs, can’t find jobs, or took jobs below their qualifications just to make ends meet? How many of your friends or their parents have had their houses foreclosed on?
Most of us know people who have spent years in school, taken the time and put in the effort to earn a degree, and ended up working in a kiosk at the mall, or a similar position.
Some job applicants are even removing their graduate degrees from their resumes so as not to appear overqualified.
Positive situation, isn’t it?
Not really, no. But being positive is something that may put you on the forefront of the recovery as the economy starts to improve.
Innovation comes from optimism at a time when most people can’t see any light at the end of the tunnel.
If everyone around you is defaulting to pessimism and lamenting the loss of past economic prosperity, having a better outlook for the future may just be the edge that pushes you to succeed.
People are going to have to be inventive to find a job, former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor said last Friday at an event hosted by the ASU Alumni Association.
“Be creative,” she said. “Find a way to wiggle your way in and make something of it.”
Our careers might never be as stable as those of our parents’ generation — very few of us will probably end up working at the same company for 30 or 40 years, ending with a nice little retirement package. But our careers will never be as stagnant, either.
Many of us may switch careers or at least positions multiple times professionally. Early retirement, benefits and lasting pensions may become a thing of the past, a perk of the baby boomers. But our generation will have advantages in the workplace that come with booms in technology and education accessibility.
It may look scary now, but try to find some optimism. If Wall Street can make a comeback, why can’t we?
