海角大神

Duarte Machado is making close to 750 euros ($840) a month 鈥� about $10,000 annually 鈥� at a lobbying firm in Lisbon. But despite the low pay, he considers himself fortunate.

鈥淚 used to think that the best and brightest would always find a way, and that's not true,鈥� he says. Mr. Machado found his current job only after a series of unpaid or barely paid internships, as well as a full year of unemployment. And without a contract, he has little hope he鈥檒l have his post past the end of this year.

鈥淚 was a good student, I have a master's degree, I was involved with the student's council, I worked as a volunteer in poorer neighborhoods, I have letters of recommendation from important people in this area 鈥� former employers 鈥� and it still didn't work.鈥�

He says he considers himself lucky given how many friends he knows are working for free. Then he corrects himself. 鈥淲e鈥檙e so used to this, we don鈥檛 even know anymore.鈥�

Mr. Machado is part of the new class of restive young workers that is causing upheaval in domestic politics across Europe. While in other parts of Europe, like Slovakia, frustration has been channeled to the far right, in Portugal and Spain it has bolstered the left. There, in response to the surge in youth unemployment caused by the financial crisis and austerity, activists are fighting against becoming a 鈥渓ost generation鈥� by advocating for dignified jobs, even as they are forced to recalibrate expectations about what a European lifestyle is supposed to look like.

鈥淚 have made peace with the fact that I won鈥檛 have my parent鈥檚 lifestyle - I鈥檒l never be upper middle class. They worry, they tell me to try to find a job as a college teacher, but they have no idea how underpaid those jobs are these days,鈥� he says.

Broad unemployment

Youth frustration in Southern Europe was the first to appear, as those countries were hit hardest by austerity measures put in place to cope with the debt crisis. One of the most visible signs was the Indignado movement of Spain. The group, whose leaders later formed the left-wing party Podemos (which garnered one-fifth of youth votes in December鈥檚 election) has helped upend the two-party system in Spain.

Now that the economy has stabilized but employment opportunities haven鈥檛 improved, many of those activists have turned to battling to聽improve conditions for workers across the region.

In Spain,聽45 percent of young people are unemployed. In Portugal, youth unemployment is above 30 percent. And the majority of those working are either limited to internships that almost never turn into full-time jobs, stuck in term contracts, or have no contracts at all.

One third of all term contracts for Spaniards under age 25 last a week or less, while Portugal鈥檚 state-sponsored internship program has led to chronic instability, activists say. Only 33 percent of Portuguese interns transition into a full-time jobs afterwards.

Activists in both countries are trying to improve those rates and the quality and quantity of jobs available to youth. Jo茫o Camargo, a PhD student, runs Prec谩rios Inflex铆veis, which gives out free legal advice for youths in precarious job situations, raises awareness, and calls for more legislative protections for workers. The group's efforts include protests and name-and-shame campaigns against those taking advantage of the system. Similarly, Oficina Precaria in Spain mobilizes over social media and has confronted shop owners for underpaying young workers.

In Portugal, the ruling Socialists and their left-wing party allies have declared that they will adopt policies put forward by Prec谩rios Inflex铆veis, including increased governmental scrutiny of employers and restrictions on internships and term contracts.

And while budgets remain tight and jobs rare, Iberian youth are adapting to a more low-cost lifestyle. 鈥淪ince all our friends live with low wages and a great degree of uncertainty, we help each other in a very informal way,鈥� Mr. Camargo says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 that guy in the group that excels at finding bargains and shares that information with everyone else; there鈥檚 the guy who signed up for the cheaper family phone plan and shares it among the group. We share baby clothes and products.鈥�

Reassessing realities

Despite their efforts, young underpaid workers struggle to make ends meet and have had to reshape their expectations for the future. In Spain, that reorientation is clear in the term mileurista, or a person who earns about a thousand euros per month. For years, 尘颈濒别耻谤颈蝉迟补听encapsulated a generation鈥檚 fears that they鈥檇 never be as well-off as 鈥� and always be dependent on 鈥� their parents.

Today, the fear remains, but the salary mark has changed, says Pachi Ochoa, a 34-year-old community organizer who just got his first job earning over 1,000 euros, at a May Day parade in Madrid.

鈥淭en years ago a聽mileurista was a nobody. Now 1,000 euros is 鈥� a miracle,鈥� he says. His good fortune might end soon, after his job ends in December. 鈥淭hen I鈥檒l probably be back at my parents' house,鈥� says Mr. Ochoa, who has two master鈥檚 degrees.

Marta Romero de la Cruz, deputy general of the think tank Alternativas in Madrid, thinks parents have a harder time adjusting than their children.

鈥淵oung people never experienced those times of prosperity, and so they adapt to what鈥檚 happening right now,鈥� she says. 鈥淧arents worry their kids won鈥檛 live like they lived, but the kids aren鈥檛 as worried because this is what they know.鈥�

Renato Carmo, a sociologist at Observatory of Inequalities in Lisbon, says that companies have the upper hand because young workers are so desperate. 鈥淭he challenges are so many and so different from one situation to the other that it鈥檚 difficult to envision a class of precarious workers uniting like the working class,鈥� he says.

Yet from interviews he does with many of these young people, he says they are highly trained, well traveled, and could mobilize the rest of the population. 鈥淭he great majority of them refuses the idea that a college education is worthless.鈥�

In Lisbon, Camargo says his parents have tried to persuade him to leave the country as hundreds of thousands of young Portuguese have done in the last four years. 鈥淚 refuse to leave,鈥� he says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a fight to be fought here.鈥�

This was part 6 of Who is 'Europe'?, a weekly series on how European natives and residents are responding to pressures from terrorism, migration, nationalism, and the 'European project.' See all of the stories on the series homepage.