The Times They Are A’ Changin’
Hope for the Future: NWM for College Students, Grads and Returning Vets
From August 2011 to August 2016 

A few years have elapsed since I gathered this information on millennials and sadly nothing has changed much on the “workspace.”. In August 2011, when this paper was written I was sorting out the challenges to young people entering the workforce and how to present Arbonne, a Network Marketing company to them as a silver lining in an otherwise cloudy job market.

Network Marketing is a strategic opportunity to consider for those entering college or those currently attending college. NWM – and Arbonne specifically – is a fit for most – online, no inventory costs, $100 to start a business working 10-15 hours a week and 8 presentations in a month all worked in the nooks and crannies of even a busy life is manageable. Here is why that’s so important:

In August 2011,  US unemployment stood at 9.1 per cent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, meaning then there are at least four job seekers applying for every vacancy, and competition for graduate jobs was tougher than it had been in decades. In 2016, the unemployment rate has just fallen below 5% for the first time since 2008. Normally, this would merit a celebration. But these aren’t normal times. As Fortune magazine reported in March 2016, for millennials: There is not much “to LOL about” for young people:

The Huffington Post has a regular college section repeatedly carrying sobering reports on how the economy is impacting the current college and young adult population entering the current job market.

Carl E. Van Horn, a professor of public policy at Rutgers University looked at what happened to college grads finishing college between 2006-2010. Of these, only half found full-time jobs. Van Horn worried for the approximately 1.5 million 2011 graduates vying for those same slots.

You have another class of graduates that are facing not only a difficult labor market but competition from the previous three, four and five years of young graduates also clamoring to find their way into the labor market,” said Van Horn. ‘The continued weak recovery will mean more graduates finding themselves in part-time jobs and contingency jobs and jobs that are far below their level of education.’”

In 2011, the National Journal reported a fact that should give economists–and maybe President Obama’s political team–hearburn: Two years after the Great Recession officially ended, job prospects for young Americans remained historically grim. More than 17 percent of 16-to-24-year-olds looking for work can’t find a job, a rate that is close to a 30-year high. The employment-to-population ratio for that demographic–the percentage of young people who are working–has plunged to 45 percent. That’s the lowest level since the Labor Department began tracking the data in 1948. Taken together, the numbers suggest that the U.S. job market is struggling mightily to bring its next generation of workers into the fold.

The past few years have taken an especially brutal toll on the plans and expectations of 20-somethings. As unemployment rates tick steadily higher, starting salaries have plummeted. Meanwhile, according to Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, a professor of psychology at Clark University, about 85 percent of the class of 2011 will likely move back in with their parents during some period of their post-college years, compared with 40 percent a decade ago.

Besides moving back home, many 20-somethings are beginning their adult lives shouldering substantial amounts of student loan debt. According to Mark Kantrowitz, who publishes the financial aid websites Fastweb.com and Finaid.org, while the average 2011 graduate finished school with about $27,200 in debt, many are straining to pay off significantly greater loans. Since then, according to USNews, “70 percent of students graduated with student loans.  The average 2016 graduate holds $37,172 i student debt…And a recent Citizen’s Bank survey finds 59 percent of millennial graduates say they have no idea when their student debts will be paid off.”

There will always be those who find a way.  For young women struggling post college debt and poor, if not non-existent, job prospects, enter the sugar daddy, sugar baby phenomenon. This particular situation certainly preceded the economic meltdown, of course but rich guys well past their prime have come to the “rescue” by plunking down money for thousands of years in search of a tryst or something more with women half their age — and women, willingly or not, make themselves available. With the whole process going digital, women passing through a system of higher education that fosters indebtedness are using the anonymity of the web to sell their wares and pay down their college loans. Says founder of the website “Seeking Arrangement:”

Over the past few years, the number of college students using our site has exploded,” says Brandon Wade, the 41-year-old founder of Seeking Arrangement. Of the site’s approximately 800,000 members, Wade estimates that 35 percent are students. “College students are one of the biggest segments of our sugar babies and the numbers are growing all the time.

As sad or worse are the lack of jobs for America’s military men and women who make their way out of the Armed Forces and back into civilian life. According to the LATimes,[i] unemployment stands is in double digits and is likely to become worse as more soldiers continue to return from deployments across the world.

The Arbonne Network Marketing opportunity is golden for young people who are leaving a number of America’s educational and service institutions to begin the next phase of their adult lives. NWM, known as “the poor man’s fanchise” allows all the benefits and support of a franchise – materials are printed, product R&D done, then tested, manufactured, then independent consultants present the products and can build a global network all on Arbonne’s interactive website.

In fact, Arbonne sees the future and the younger emerging market – people 45 as the new economic engine. Millennials are web savvy already buying a variety products online. Unlike the Boomers who often stumble because of ignorance of the new marketing and communication realities, the younger generations communicate over virtual networks and are leaving traditional media – newspapers, network television, etc., and landlines for virtual and web supported channels. In fact, unlike the boomers, these younger generations are fully MOBILE with smart phones and iPad support allowing them to communicate, connect, purchase, and conduct their businesses wherever.

Students have the time to begin an Arbonne business in college. Grads with an Arbonne business could enter the adult world with money to pay back loans (or no loans outstanding) but also with an income that can make the job hunt less anxious and desperate when shouldering tens of thousands of dollars in school loan debt. Arbonne is ready to meet the new tech and internet market realities and to attract younger consultants to NWM as business owners, not just as job seekers and/or holders in tenuous economic times, and all for little or no cash investment. Students and grads can pay back school loans honestly and enter the job market with more favorable terms and vets reenter civilian life with real hope for the future.
References:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-veteranjobs-20110711,0,3234204.story

• Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2012371/Hire-College-grad-resorts-wearing-giant-sandwich-board-desperate-search-job.html#ixzz1RpM4hjk8
• http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/slideshows/10-student-loan-facts-college-grads-need-to-know
• Unemployment in the U.S. currently stands at 9.1 per cent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It means there are at least four job seekers applying for every vacancy, and competition for graduate jobs is tougher than it’s been in decades.
• Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2012371/Hire-College-grad-resorts-wearing-giant-sandwich-board-desperate-search-job.html#ixzz1RpM4hjk8
• http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/06/news/economy/obama-us-jobs