"College, Jobs, and Inequality" (editorial in NYT)

[jld]

Did anyone get a chance to read this yesterday? I was surprised to see that unemployment stats for recent (in the last 2-3 years) grads are the same as for the general population. Do these stats surprise you? Or are they what you would have guessed?

[TravelingChris]

THey are what I have observed. Many recent grads have either not gotten jobs or gotten jobs that didn't require their education.

[creekland]

I didn't get to read the article. With regards to college grads I know, whether they have a job or not depends on their major and, perhaps, where they graduated from. Computer majors have done well. Traditional liberal arts majors and education majors not so well.

[creekland]

I just googled the article if anyone cares to read it.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/14/opinion/14tue1.html

 

I do feel sorry for new grads in this economy. It's tougher out there. It's not at all making me rethink college for any of my three though.

[Nan in Mass]

My oldest is very glad to be in college now. He says he left the workforce just as the jobs dried up. We would still encourage our children to go to college even if there were no job advantages to going. We might have to be more creative about finding a way to pay for it, but we still would do it.

-Nan

[Gwen in VA]

An eduction is never wasted. It may not provide money or even a job, but an education is about growing the person, not the paycheck.

[Gwen in VA]

Lies, ..... lies, and statistics.

 

The writer of the article is comparing apples to oranges in his statistics. He is comparing the unemployment rate of recent college grads to the OVERALL unemployment rate. To really compare the effect of a college degree, he should be comparing the unemployment rate of recent college grads with either the unemployment rate of folks in their early 20's who do NOT have a college degree or the overall unemployment rate of folks in their early 20's. Older folks have the benefit of experience so their emplyment rate tends to be higher than that of young folks.

 

I took a quick look around to see if I could find the overall unemployment rate for folks in their early 20's, and I could not. The overall unemployment rate for 18-24yo's was (supposedly -- I found this in an article, not in a Labor Department statistic) 16.1% in May of 2009, but obviously that includes younger people than college grads so it is not a fair comparison either.

 

Entry-level workers are traditionally hard-hit when there are few jobs, so a different way of looking at the employment rate of recent college grads is to marvel that it is so high -- apparently in terms of employment a college degree is the equivalent of having worked for some years!

[creekland]

An eduction is never wasted. It may not provide money or even a job, but an education is about growing the person, not the paycheck.

 

:iagree:

 

:iagree:with your other post too. I know several high school grads that thought they would just work who now are heading back to community college to get a better education to try to find a job - or a better job.

[jld]

To really compare the effect of a college degree, he should be comparing the unemployment rate of recent college grads with either the unemployment rate of folks in their early 20's who do NOT have a college degree or the overall unemployment rate of folks in their early 20's.

 

 

 

Very good point, Gwen. Thanks for mentioning this.

[Kim in Appalachia]

there was a recession going on and few to no jobs in my field, BUT I took a temp job, that led to a permenant clerk job at a big company in my field. I was promoted within 6 months and if I would have stayed I would have done well at that company because I had a degree. You may have to take a mail room job, or other non-degree job at first, but the degree can be worth it if you are willing to work hard.