Interestng Bureau of Labor Statistics graph on salary and unemployment vs. education

[Gwen in VA]

http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm

 

This Bureau of Labor Statistics graph is based on data on people 25 years and older, so it does not directly say anything about the under-25 crowd, but it does seem to indicate that either --

 

1) Better-educated people are more likely to earn more and less likely to be unemployed (due to skills and/or character traits developed during their educational years)

 

OR

 

2) The type of person who pursues higher education is more likely to earn more and less likely to be unemployed (i.e. the type of person who has the smarts and discipline to pursue higher education is the type of person who develops their employment skills and who employers want to hire).

 

This graph says NOTHING about the type of employment these more educated people have, so mal-employment problems do not show up in this data.

[stripe]

I don't believe it. There are also tons of people who are unemployed but don't show up in the statistics because they aren't collecting unemployment or whatever, or are seriously underemployed, or are out of the workforce and wouldn't bother looking for work right now.

 

I don't believe people with degrees make as much money as is claimed either. Look at job listings sometime. I see a ton asking for people with a master's degree and 5 years of experience, for $30,000.

[Renee in NC]

Most jobs that have to resort to job listings do so because they can't find anyone to take them through networking!:lol:

 

If you look at these as averages, then it works out. My dh makes less than where he falls, but my Dad makes $20K+ more than what the graph lists. Remember that people with a high school diploma only can be people who work at service work up through the trades that make good money. People with 4 year degrees can be those who have a degree in "humanities" with no real job skills working at Starbucks or those with high demand degrees such as accounting and nursing.

 

I'll agree about the unemployment being too low, but I don't think it will less skewed for one group over another. I would actually think that more college educated people would be underemployed than those with a high school diploma.