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Welcome to the summer of silver linings, complete with cutesy-poo titles.

“Funemployment!” That's the buzzword for twenty- and even thirtysomethings who can't find a job in their chosen field – or any job at all – but instead of panicking are pictured in golf shirts, teeing off on yet another gorgeous summer day.

“Staycation!” That's the catchy term about to be added to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, the publishing company announced last week, for those of us unable to afford a real holiday who are instead trooping off to local activities, kicking back in our own backyards.

The upbeat message seems to be: Hey, aren't we all having fun anyway, despite a massive economic turndown, an unemployment rate creeping toward 8.6 per cent, many students unable to offset any tuition costs and grumpy families fervently wishing they could go somewhere, anywhere, especially if they live in Toronto where a civic strike has closed all public swimming pools and golf courses? (Okay kids, we're going to “revisit” Ontario Place!) Don't get me wrong. It's laudable to make the best of a bad situation. Our frugal grandparents would have shrugged and asked, “What's the big deal with staycationing? It's only common sense that you don't take an expensive trip you can't afford. Plenty to do right here in River City. Plus you can finally finish that wood-working project.”

As for “funemployment,” in previous generations, you would have been knocking on doors from dawn to dusk looking for any kind of menial work, or volunteering all day in the community, and not just when that golf game is finished. You wouldn't, even if you had savings, be taking an extra week in Europe or working on your tans. To be fair, many of today's new grads are taking any job they can find to wait out the bad times.

But let's not kid ourselves. Funemployment is a crock. Student unemployment is the highest it's been in 11 years. The negative impact of our kids being unable to help defray their tuition costs or move forward after graduation is going to linger well into winter as they – and their parents – accrue more debt and feel even more panicked about their futures.

I know a recent law graduate who can't find work in corporate law as junior lawyers just a few years ahead of her have been let go in droves. How is she going to make the rent? Or another young woman who finished late at York University due to the strike there, only to have her regular summer job – at a city recreation department – vaporize during the Toronto civic strike. You think she's funemployed? Ask her mother, a small-business owner who's already fretting about her overextended line of credit.

And jobs are not just about money. They are about self-esteem, a feeling of having accomplished something at the end of the day. Too much leisure or bored lying around can be an incubator for depression, anxiety and emotional isolation. It's also another way to postpone growing up, the last thing this current crop of twentysomethings needs.

At least staycationing has an economic upside, which tourist boards and even the federal government have quickly glommed onto with stimulus programs. Marketing a region's attractions to locals means that when the true tourists don't show up, there's a fallback.

Toronto, my city, is a great place to experience summer in, with its patio restaurants, Dusk Dance performances in parks, baseball games (the Jays are even winning a few) and a spectacularly renovated Art Gallery of Ontario. If you can afford it, the hit musical Jersey Boys is offering $20 gas vouchers with tickets.

I will do all of the above with pleasure. But vacations are also about mentally getting away from day-to-day life, opening up to new places and adventures. So feeling a twinge of envy as friends swan off to a cruise or even head up north for an extended period is natural.

There's another interesting psychological angle to this particular summer: I wouldn't call it paralysis, but many people are leaving their plans to the last minute and would postpone even a staycation if a lucrative work project came their way.

So let's call this the Summer of Making It Up As We Go Along. As someone who remembers the Summer of Love and all the great anthems of the era , I've been trying to think of a song that captures this ethos. I could make one up: “Roll out those lazy hazy bankrupt days of summer…” or “She'll have fun fun fun till the leasing company takes her Honda awa-ay!”

But maybe there's a real song out there, one we can all sing along to. I'll await your suggestions as I fire up the backyard barbecue.