About one-fourth of Egyptian workers under 25 are unemployed, astatistic that is often cited as a reason for the revolution there. Inthe United States, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in January anofficial unemployment rate of 21 percent for workers ages 16 to 24.

My generation was taught that all we needed to succeed was an educationand hard work. Tell that to my friend from high school who studiedChinese and international relations at a top-tier college. He had themisfortune to graduate in the class of 2009, and could find paid workonly as a lifeguard and a personal trainer.  Unpaid internships atresearch institutes led to nothing.  After more than a year he movedback in with his parents.

Millions of college graduates in rich nations could tell similarstories. In Italy, Portugal and Spain, about one-fourth of collegegraduates under the age of 25 are unemployed. In the United States, theofficial unemployment rate for this group is 11.2 percent, but forcollege graduates 25 and over it is only 4.5 percent.

The true unemployment rate for young graduates is most likely evenhigher because it fails to account for those who went to graduate schoolin an attempt to ride out the economic storm or fled the country toteach English overseas. It would be higher still if it accounted for allof those young graduates who have given up looking for full-time work,and are working part time for lack of any alternative.

The cost of youth unemployment is not only financial, but alsoemotional. Having a job is supposed to be the reward for hours of SATprep, evenings spent on homework instead of with friends and countlessall-nighters writing papers. The millions of young people who cannot getjobs or who take work that does not require a college education are indanger of losing their faith in the future. They are indefinitelypostponing the life they wanted and prepared for; all that matters isfinding rent money. Even if the job market becomes as robust as it wasin 2007 — something economists say could take more than a decade — mygeneration will have lost years of career-building experience.

It was simple to blame Hosni Mubarak for the frustrations of Egypt’syoung people — he had been in power longer than they had been alive.Barack Obama is not such an easy target; besides his democraticlegitimacy, he is far from the only one responsible for the weakness ofthe recovery. In the absence of someone specific to blame, thefrustration simply builds.

As governments across the developed world balance their budgets, I fearthat the young will bear the brunt of the pain: taxes on workers will beraised and spending on education will be cut while mortgage subsidiesand entitlements for the elderly are untouchable. At least the Saudisand Kuwaitis are trying to bribe their younger subjects.

The uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa are a warning for thedeveloped world. Even if an Egyptian-style revolution breaking out in arich democracy is unthinkable, it is easy to recognize the frustrationof a generation that lacks opportunity. Indeed, the “desperategeneration” in Portugal got tens of thousands of people to participate in nationwide protests on March 12. How much longer until the rest of the rich world follows their lead?