By relocate: We are a small town, rurally located and bit isolated. Small population. We have a good local college that regularly cranks out a bunch of registered nurses and teachers. Each year one or two of those can get work here. Each year a few will relocate to the nearest large town, about 70 miles away and those do well. A few really fly the coop and leave the state and those also do well. But those in the 22-25 year old bracket who refuse to leave town are competing against very large numbers of nurses and teachers for very few jobs. So we keep telling the youngsters entering college to plan to move when they graduate.
And it really isn't all that hard.
For that matter, it really wasn't all that difficult to move the 14 times we did
Major garage sale, minor moving hassle. And in the drilling business, you always buy in a boom and sell in a bust. I guess there really isn't anything new under the sun.
We keep doing what we can--pushing saleable education, which may be more trade school than yet another grad of the local college, good grooming and work habits, good life skills, offering free child care to working single parents to help them get on their feet, teaching young two parent families life skills that may allow one of them to stay home and reduce the considerable cost of childcare, a church run health clinic, help with getting a reliable car when they graduate (which will more than likely be a rehabbed ugly reliable sedan),etc. We encourage some to contact Mike Rowe's foundation or consider some very high paying "dirty jobs." There are some really high paying jobs that cannot find qualified workers.
I don't know if what we saved during our working years will last until we die but I don't feel guilty for having saved for retirement or feel I owe a penny of it to any younger person. Could have just spent it as we made it, but now we have it to help pay our legitimate life expenses. If there should happen to be any left over for the kids or grandkids, I don't feel a bit guilty for helping them have it any easier, either.
Sometimes seems common sense with money is in short supply. Some don't want to share the pie with anyone, most complain about the size of the slice they got, and very few seem willing to pony up for the cost of making the pie or do the hard work. Lots of eaters, not enough bakers.