[Swizec]

I honestly think that these days if you're young and are not an engineer or something similar that's got jobs chasing you, being an entrepreneur (not necessarily a startup) is the only option.

Also, people in general believe their choices are the best choices and will go to great lengths to tell everyone that their own choices were better. Just one of those gorgeous biases we've got.

[jacquesm]

Lawyers, doctors, retail, construction etc, etc. The world is a lot more varied than being an engineer or being relegated to entrepreneurdom.

[Swizec]

There are more lawyers than there are lawyering jobs. All the lawyer people I know are complaining and many are closing their offices because they can't get enough clients.

Doctors can't get jobs because so many people are vying for the same jobs it's difficult to even get a specialty. Nobody will hire you without a specialty.

Retail ... yeah, you're competing with everyone from high school students to college grads for jobs that often pay like 5 euro an hour.

Construction ... well maybe if you move to China or some other booming place. Most places I've seen around Europe are full of shutdown construction sites that have been standing still for a long long time.

And when I said engineer, I meant all types of engineers. Not just software.

[jacquesm]

I think what you're confusing here is a shrinking economy with a push to become entrepreneurs. Being 'jobless' is not the same as wanting or having to become an entrepreneur. It's true that in times of economic shrinkage there will be more one-man or one-woman companies founded in lieu of employment but that is usually an indicator of a broken social fabric than some desire on the part of the newly minted entrepreneurs, the majority of which will fail in the first year. Think of it as a last ditch attempt to make ends meet, if you can't be employed then you can attempt to be your own boss for a bit but if you then still can't find the (non-existent) work then it is quickly game over.

[drone]

Europe isn't the only place to be a doctor or construction worker, ya know?

Pretty much any doctor worth their salt can get a job in the US (we have a shortage of medical professionals) -- in fact, consider also RN's, hospitals have been putting out massive recruiting campaigns for RNs.

Construction is booming here as well, depending on the region of course, but there is more construction work going around these days than any time since the crash, and wages are going back into the six figures for many.

Yes, there are too many lawyers, but they get sucked up by companies in other roles anyhow.

So, I guess your perspective depends on your location, eh?

[Swizec]

Perspective really does depend on location.

But I have a few friends who study medicine and they've all told me it's near impossible to get a job as a doctor because it's near impossible to get a specialty and nobody needs you without a specialty. All the while, the media has been blasting me with news of a humongous shortage of medical professionals - doctors in particular.

Partly the difficult in getting a specialty is caused by the shortage of doctors because there aren't enough to train everyone who wants to become a doctor.

It's a mess.

[Ntrails]

I have no idea where you are located, but the English system involves a very linear path from graduation to junior doctors training in a variety of departments and a progression towards specialism.

You don't graduate and then go and compete for specialist jobs, it would be like my doing a degree in Business and expecting to be considered for senior management positions on graduation. So, I mean, are you saying that there are no jobs for Junior Doctors? That would be madness, because the first few years of work are really on the job learning without which there will be no new senior consultants.

[tallanvor]

Regarding the medical profession, the same goes for Norway. Granted, you have to make sure your degree conforms to Norway's requirements, and you have to pass a test showing a basic level of Norwegian proficiency (and, I believe, another test for medical terms), but they're definitely hurting for people here.

[myke_cameron]

_Doctors can't get jobs because so many people are vying for the same jobs it's difficult to even get a specialty. Nobody will hire you without a specialty._

Source? There is a huge demand for primary care doctors right now ( source: http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-09-06/national/41812... ), and anecdotally, I work for a company that runs primary care practices and we recently hired a recruiter because we are having trouble finding the handful of doctors a year we need to keep growing.

[jacquesm]

At a guess, you and Swizec are not in the same location.

[snowwrestler]

Any doctor having trouble finding work in Europe should take a crack at coming to the U.S. We are short on doctors and getting shorter.

[sp332]

There's more to retail than shelf-stockers. Would you count running a brick-and-mortar store as being an entrepreneur?

[Swizec]

Yes I would. Entrepreneur is, imho, anyone who doesn't get a paycheck from somebody else. Freelancer, startup founder, small business owner, artist selling stuff on etsy -> entrepreneurs the lot of 'em.

[harrisonweber]

I would. Again, small biz VS startup.