<B>A 'lost generation' from recession-hit Europe flocks to Britain to seek work â and finds it's not always what they hoped it would be</B>
WILL COLDWELL TUESDAY 22 OCTOBER 2013
Nothing tastes quite as good as a coffee brewed by an expert barista. However, increasingly the chances are that the person serving you will have a high level of expertise in something a bit more substantial than coffee. With students and graduates from recession-hit Europe moving to the UK in their droves in the hope of finding work, the person serving you that cappuccino could well have a PhD. Dubbed the "lost generation", it is not hard to come by the stories of the qualified and aspirational young people from countries such as Spain, Portugal and Greece who are struggling to find employment in the UK.
Last month, the seemingly hopeless situation led one 25-year-old Spanish man who works in a "famous coffee chain" to vent his frustration online. In a post published on Facebook and Twitter which has since been retweeted more than 31,000 times, he wrote: <B>"My name is Benjamin Serra, I have two bachelor's degrees and a master's degree and I clean toilets. No, it is not a joke."</B>
For Fernando Mariano, a 26-year-old student from Porto, the situation is quite simply "scary". "It was all very sudden," he says. <B>"The situation with culture in Portugal is very much based on subsidised companies and with the recession the government has cut them all."</B> It is easy for Mariano to recount similar stories: "Most of my friends at home have degrees but are unemployed at the moment," Out of 10 friends in my hometown, six are over here now and they work in bars and restaurants."
He continues: "Everyone's running away. Our PM said, 'Young people, please emigrate while you can.'
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-s...-be-better-educated-than-you-are-8895053.html
Cleaning toilets. The future promised by Obama.
WILL COLDWELL TUESDAY 22 OCTOBER 2013
Nothing tastes quite as good as a coffee brewed by an expert barista. However, increasingly the chances are that the person serving you will have a high level of expertise in something a bit more substantial than coffee. With students and graduates from recession-hit Europe moving to the UK in their droves in the hope of finding work, the person serving you that cappuccino could well have a PhD. Dubbed the "lost generation", it is not hard to come by the stories of the qualified and aspirational young people from countries such as Spain, Portugal and Greece who are struggling to find employment in the UK.
Last month, the seemingly hopeless situation led one 25-year-old Spanish man who works in a "famous coffee chain" to vent his frustration online. In a post published on Facebook and Twitter which has since been retweeted more than 31,000 times, he wrote: <B>"My name is Benjamin Serra, I have two bachelor's degrees and a master's degree and I clean toilets. No, it is not a joke."</B>
For Fernando Mariano, a 26-year-old student from Porto, the situation is quite simply "scary". "It was all very sudden," he says. <B>"The situation with culture in Portugal is very much based on subsidised companies and with the recession the government has cut them all."</B> It is easy for Mariano to recount similar stories: "Most of my friends at home have degrees but are unemployed at the moment," Out of 10 friends in my hometown, six are over here now and they work in bars and restaurants."
He continues: "Everyone's running away. Our PM said, 'Young people, please emigrate while you can.'
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-s...-be-better-educated-than-you-are-8895053.html
Cleaning toilets. The future promised by Obama.
