Against a backdrop of extended economic recession in developed economies and the European Union, educationalists are facing new questions about the role and relevance of education. High levels of youth unemployment reflect the reality that in many parts of the world, young people bear a large part of the burden of economic downturn. Even for the educated, transitions to decent work are slow and difficult, leading to concern that a ‘generation at risk’ is being created. Many young people are ‘overeducated’ and the proportion of young people who are ‘NEET’ (not in employment, education or training) is increasing. Drawing on global youth education and employment data and on detailed longitudinal research on Australian youth transitions, Professor Wyn explores the implications of these developments for educators. She argues that the economic recession has exacerbated an emerging gap between the realities that young people face and mass education systems that reflect their legacy as tools of economic development for an industrial era. In a postindustrial era, marked by transformations in the nature of work, new communication technologies and unprecedented levels of mobility of capital, people, information and ideologies across national and cultural borders, the role of education is increasingly complex. New patterns of connectivity are emerging for young people, ringing new patterns of living, new forms of belonging and citizenship and new aspirations (particularly in relation to education and employment), as well as fears about cultural change and nationhood. At the same time, new inequalities locally and globally are being created, and a great many young people feel alienated from their communities, their aspirations often thwarted by institutions that promise more than they are able to deliver.