Géza Wolf
How the Young Live Now
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Surveys by the Central Statistical Office (KSH) bear out that though the majority reject the idea of direct government intervention in the
interests of boosting the birth rate, they are in favour of measures designed to encourage procreation by reducing the expenses of raising a family. Surveys regularly conducted by the KSH Demographical Research Institute since 1983 have repeatedly shown that the overwhelming majority of the population (81 per cent) is convinced of the necessity of steps which will hinder the decline in population numbers, and that such measures are primarily expected from the administration.
At the same time, the number of marriages has also diminished by 25 per cent since the early nineties. And yet, this is a child-centred society, pace high divorce and low marriage rates. Is life better with, or without, children? In a survey which covered the former socialist countries, the great majority in Eastern Germany, Russia and Poland said that the childless were better off, in Hungary, however, an overwhelming majority (80 per cent) answered that life without children was not the real thing. Marriage too received a similarly high rating. The majority of Hungarians think it more important than culture or education, leisure, self-fulfilment, a calling or vocation, or participation in public affairs. The survey also established that young Hungarians on the threshold of founding a family planned two or three children, and that they preferred regulated sexual partnerships. This is, however, directly contradicted by the fact that more than one child is found in only a third of Hungarian households, one third of households are childless, and another third raises one child. Two-child families account for 25 per cent, families with three or more children for 7 per cent.
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Teachers, psychologists and educationists who have dealt with generations of young people are agreed that the nineties produced spectacular changes in their lives and mentalities. Never before experienced opportunities became available after the end of Communism, and yet students today carry heavier burdens than any previous generation. More is expected from them and, as a result, their communal life suffers. Furthermore, many parents do not really trust schools, and insist on private tutoring for their children, particularly in preparing for university admission, thus further reducing the short enough leisure time of the young. A surfeit of exams, uniform tests and trial school leaving exam-inations take all the fun out of learning, and lead many young people to think that their parents care less for them than for the marks they obtain. Many-in terror that their offspring might not be admitted to the preferred institute of higher learning-truly expect that the child too should care more for performance than for health or peace of mind.
Zsuzsa Nyirő, my own former form-mistress and now Deputy Head of the Berzsenyi Dániel Gimnázium, sums up her experience. "My pupils appear to have a single aim in life: to make lots of money and to live it up, that is to get a good job, a car and a home of their own, the sooner the better. Therefore they want to get into a university that provides a marketable degree." Zsuzsa Vajda, the chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of Szeged, adds: "Many adolescents today follow the broker lifestyle. They are keen to get everything as quickly as possible, and they want to burn the candle at both ends. This is in fact a rational conformism given changed circumstances. Young people today have less reason to trust in a secure future than their predecessors."
According to the data, one in five believe that there is no way for the country to prosper, and that they too will vegetate in this hopeless situation. What is even more shocking is that this pessimism is not limited to those whose circumstances warrant it, to the uneducated and unskilled, but is true of young executives and intellectuals as well. It is, what is more, characteristic of the majority of optimists that their state of mind is not backed by concrete developments or expectations but by a vague hope. Waiting for a miracle to happen defines this unstructured optimism. That is why young people today aspire to qualifications that far exceed their parents'. According to a survey, carried out by the Median Public Opinion & Marketing Institute, 6 per cent of those aged between 15 and 30 hold degrees, and 32 per cent presume that they will graduate sometime. A third of the latter already attend some kind of college or university and yet only 15 per cent have at least one parent who is a graduate. A total of 53 per cent is keen on being better qualified than their parents. Of the 1,200 in the survey, half speak a foreign language (1.2 languages on average), one in two of these judges their own knowledge to be "reasonable", 10 per cent "very good" and 37 per cent "minimal." An equal number (36 per cent) speak English and German, but English-speakers have a higher opinion of their own knowledge. Other languages are known by far fewer. Six per cent are able to communicate in French, and 4 per cent each in Italian or Russian. If we presume that planned language study will prove successful, then at the most three quarters of those between 15 and 30 today will speak at least one foreign language at some sort of level. Taking plans into account, the future dominance of English is unambiguous. More than one and a half times as many mentioned English rather than German as a language they intended to learn.
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According to the subjects of such judgments, being unfamiliar with the humanities does not mean that they are any the less educated than their predecessors. They may not read the classics but they know how to handle a computer. The fact is that in computer skills they are streets ahead of those in their thirties. In the past two or three years household availability of computers has barely changed nor has the Internet access of adults changed, but one third of those between 15 and 30 are members of computer-owning households. Regular surveys conducted by Medián show that computers are more frequently found in households with children. Of the 3,600 households surveyed in the spring, 16 per cent have a computer, but 33 per cent of those where there is a child under 18. Every third young person between 15 and 30 has access to the information superhighway, though only 14 per cent of them describe themselves as frequent users. Educational institutions and the Sulinet (schools Internet) programme obviously have a considerable role in Internet use by the young. 23 per cent are given access to the worldwide web by schools. Looked at from the other side, the numbers show that only 50 per cent of pupils have Internet access.
All this is not necessarily to be welcomed. Lifestyle researchers maintain that the young just log onto the net for three hours a day on average, which-like their "duties"-is at the expense of their social life. They get their information on-line rather than from the printed media, and it could be they chat more electronically than they chatter live. According to Krisztina Dobos, Deputy Head of the Lutheran Gimnázium in Budapest, the computer makes for loneliness. "They no longer go to the flicks or the theatre together. Friendships are rarer. If someone is away from school for a few days, the others haven't a clue what's up. No one goes to see them and even giving them a ring is rare." Ildikó Szabó, a sociologist from the National Institute of Public Education, argues that ten years ago reading was responsible for as much loneliness as the computer is today. "The young today are no lonelier, it is social contacts that are differently structured. Perhaps more children played in the street before because housing standards were lower and there was less traffic."
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The drumbeat of workers on the march
In Stalin's words and time, work was a "matter of honour and glory". Today, getting a job is a matter of luck. Happy the young person who can be what they trained to be. The steadily diminishing rate of registered unemployed among school leavers may well be a cause for optimism, the growing number of the long-term unemployed, on the other hand, feeds pessimism. Thus employment statistics referring to the young equally justify paeans of triumph and the ringing of alarm bells.
According to the National Labour Research & Methodology Centre (OMKMK), 519,000 unemployed were registered at the end of 1994, of whom 14.1 per cent were younger than 20 and 13.6 per cent between 20 and 25. The end of 1999 saw 404,000 unemployed on record, of whom 4.9 per cent were younger than 20 and 14.7 per cent between 20 and 25. September counts as the peak for seasonal unemployment. Six years ago 75,000 school leavers were unemployed, last year, at the same time of September, only 38,0000. At the same time, data also point to the lacunae of state labour exchanges. It is true that the number of registered unemployed amongst school leavers-a category which covers those under 25, and those under 35 holding a degree or equivalent has steeply declined in recent years, but the fact that since 1996 they have not been entitled to unemployment benefits considerably reduced the inclination to register.
The government at the time, using the euphonous and rhetorical slogan "opportunities and not the dole" (in Hungarian the two terms rhyme), put an end to monetary payments for those who had never worked, and put the emphasis on a kind of labour service and on retraining. New programmes were launched expressly designed to help the young to find jobs. One was Work Experience Support for young people who left school without qualifications in any skill-many of them holders of the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (baccalaureate). Employers hiring such young people were reimbursed by the Exchequer for 50 to 100 per cent of their wages. Employment Support Programme for school leavers was based on a similar principle. Young people could be employed by the place where they did their practical training, while at trade school at half-public expense for 270 days, provided the employers agreed to keep them on without subsidy for a minimum further three months. The OMKMK survey is relatively optimistic. In 1998, 48 per cent of the young people so placed were made permanent, in 1999 this ratio grew to 55 per cent. But it is also true that 45 per cent were discarded at the first suitable opportunity, sometimes to be replaced by another supported young person. In the first half of 1999 not quite four thousand were in receipt of Work Experience Support and fewer than five hundred had Employment Support. The Office in Charge of the Youth of the Budapest Labour Exchange said that in 1999, 46.8 million forints were spent on the two programmes, securing jobs for a total of 96 young people.
According to the Central Office of Statistics, the number of young people who were either in employment or studying has gradually grown in recent years and that of the unemployed has declined. With the end of financial assitance, state agencies lost sight of tens of thousands of unemployed young people which does not mean, however, that the latter found a regular job. Around 200,000 young people under 25, 13 per cent of the age group, neither work nor study, nor are they classified as unemployed. Numerous non-central forms of support also exist, but their quantifiable result is insignificant. Thus the Career Trust supports barely a few dozen young people to the tune of 150,000 forints a head, offering help to those between 18 and 30 in working out their ideas and in launching enterprises. Tibor Miklós, the Managing Director of the Trust, said that many turned to them who founded a company and leased premises, just because they could do this on extremely favourable terms, without having the slightest idea of what they wanted to do. It does happen that they have a plan but that-in the absence of prior market research-proves too daring. Thus a plan was recently submitted to the Career Trust for a sauna in which users would cool down with the help of artificially produced snowballs rather than water. The costs of Hungarian and international patents running to several million forints have repeatedly been covered by the Ministry of Economics.
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The star of traditional marketing is setting. The young have turned their backs on the conventional media. They barely read the press, turn on the radio only for background noise, and given the spread of video and DVD, more and more rarely take in a movie, making a point of being ten minutes late, and missing the advertisements. Market researchers two or three years ago sat up and took note that a new generation is appearing which is not a continuation but a clear break. But for the past forty years firms based their long-term strategies precisely on what was ongoing. Having caught a consumer in your net improved your chances with their children and grandchildren. These days, however, the young vote with their feet in both department stores and boutiques: either they do not cross their thresholds, or else only to bring back and exchange what their thirty- or forty-year-old parents bought them.
"Oh God, Mum, where do you think you're living? No one buys this stuff anymore!!!" Every young parent of an adolescent must be familiar with such judgments and the bored voice they are expressed in. Advertising men must take note too, for that's where the money is.
Péter Szántó, an editor of Kreatív, a marketing and communications journal, opines: "This new generation appeared on the market like a bull in a china shop. Their advance guard are already consumers in a big way. Firms which want to gain their hearts, and their purses, will have to learn to think as they do." They must show an awareness that these children as a rule grew up in homes where dad and mum are both after hard cash, thus they themselves have had financial responsibilities since an early age. One in nine gimnázium students already disposes over a credit card, and more than 70 per cent have made up their minds that they will be home owners some day. At the age of 18 they already have their five-year-plan.
A survey carried out jointly by Szonda Ipsos and Hoffmann Research International demonstrates that the young hold firm opinions on most things and that they are able to provide their parents with up to date information. Not surprising then, in 65 per cent of families they are consulted on all financial decisions, all the way from the weekly shopping to the purchase of a car. According to their data, two thirds of those between 14 and 24 prefer prestigious brands. Wearing high status gear matters to them. They are convined that brand names stand for reliablility, that is that given brands guarantee quality. The majority are also of the opinion that certain brands are stylish and much bettern than others. One third show brand loyalty within a product category. To the young, brands matter most in the case of electronics entertainment products. Footwear runs second, then recreational drinks, jeans wear and cosmetics.
Research of this sort offers evidence that it is most important to please consumers in their adolescence, since ties then formed tend to be long lasting. The first kiss, scent, lipstick or chewing gum is the most memorable. That is why even industries targeting an adult market want to please the young. Reebok, for instance, fitted the soles of their shoes with a step-counting microchip. "The kids love it," the Reebok marketing manager says, "At that age they expect a prompt feed-back from every performance." Kodak offers teenies a single-use camera whose case contains face powder and a make-up mirror.
A May 2000 survey by the the Medián Public Opinion and Market Research Institute shows that the youngest of the 15–30 age groups spend a monthly 5,400 forints ($1 = 300 forints) on entertainment, close to three quarters of their average income. The 19- to 22-year-olds spend much more, a monthly 9,400 forints in cinemas, theatres, restaurants etc., but this is only barely more than one third of their income. For the 27 to 30 year olds the total amounts to a mere 5700 forints, one eighth of their monthly income. Naturally, places of entertainment and their clientčle differ. The very young prefer those which do not charge for entry, but no charge for girls is used as an enticement by many where men and boys have to pay for admission.
What's in in Budapest?
Half a dozen places with open-air seating (standing room only, sometimes) are specially favoured by the young. Their secret is the nature of their crowd, and the shortage of beer gardens in the metropolitan area. It's often hard to get into the Ráckert and the Romkert at the Buda end of the Elisabeth Bridge. Their joint turnover is often fifteen hundred a day, people often calling at both places. That two should occupy one seat is a commonplace, also that standing room is taken up as much as the seats so that you have to use your elbows to fight your way through to the bar. These well-lit places are frequented not only by young intellectuals but also by aging actors and others connected with films or the theatre. As a young sociology student points out, anyone who enters immediately sizes up who else is present. "Coming here is a social event. On the other hand, everywhere else a benevolent darkness allows you to disappear, which, however, makes communication impossible. Those who want to flirt or dance choose the latter."
In comparison with these two places, the mid-town Liszt Ferenc Square coffee shops, also fancied by many of the young, were called "business class" by many of those questioned. And yet it goes without saying that it is equally hard to find an empty table or seat on any of the many terraces on this promenade. According to their proprietors, each is frequented by the young in some fashionable occupation. According to Philippe Gallice, one of the proprietors of Frameven Ltd which operates the Café Vian, says his regulars are lawyers and brokers around twenty-five. Laptop yuppies are daytime regulars; they treat the promenade as a base to do business from. The clientele of the Pesti Est Café is younger. According to György Tamás, one of the proprietors of Estinvest Ltd which operates it, it is the meeting place of secondary school students mornings and afternoons, and of young media and advertising people and well to do university students at night. He adds: "Frequenting the Liszt Ferenc Square is the in thing to do."
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Géza Wolf
is a freelance journalist and a contributor to the supplement on the young in the 26 June 2000 issue of Heti Világgazdaság, an economic weekly. Part of this article is based on the above.
