Recession and Political Participation

In his article, How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America, Don Peck writes about how the economic recession will affect our generation. I wish to expand on his thoughts and question how the economic recession will affect the ability of our generation to be good citizens. Peck writes that the National Association of College and Employers found that job offers to graduating seniors declined by 21% last year and are projected to decline 7% this year. As a result of the recession 10% of young adults have moved back in with their parents as a result of the recession. I personally know several people who graduated from college without a job, moved back in with their parents, and got a temporary job in the service industry (waiter, sales associate, etc.)

Earlier in the semester we read about how people can gain civic skills from their job (such as ability to speak publicly, and write letters). However, this only applies to white collar jobs. People generally don't have the opportunity to learn these skills through jobs in the service industry. Will the fact that many graduating seniors fail to get jobs in careers of their choice and instead work part time as sales associates or don't work at all affect their civic skills? Can these people make up for these missed civic skills later on in life, or will they be able to retain what they have learned in college? I don't really know the answer to this question. I have a feeling, however, that this recession will affect how young adults who are unemployed after college participate in politics.