ABSTRACT
Scholars and journalists now often use the term "precarity" to describe experiences of insecurity and austerity in the contemporary period. Precarity typically refers to an economic and existential condition accompanying the shift to unstable, temporary, and insecure employment. New terms such as "generation jobless", "the new underclass", "generation screwed", and "the precariat" have entered the popular lexicon to describe a generation of young people confronting potentially destabilizing levels of inequality, debt, unemployment, and underemployment. What is important to note is that narratives that understand generational precarity through the lens of undereducation and overeducation tend to obscure more than they reveal. Media narratives such as the undereducated American and overeducated Canadian are based in mainstream economic perspectives that suggest technological change and the level of human-capital development are the central factors determining relative levels of employment and inequality. Thomas Piketty observes that education is indeed essential for promoting economic and social development, particularly in regions where education has historically been underdeveloped.
