Half of American College Grads are Unemployed

• rzetlin wrote on 2012-04-23 21:58

  
  1 in 2 new graduates are jobless or underemployed
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The college class of 2012 is in for a rude welcome to the world of work.
  
  A weak labor market already has left half of young college graduates either jobless or underemployed in positions that don't fully use their skills and knowledge.
  
  Young adults with bachelor's degrees are increasingly scraping by in lower-wage jobs — waiter or waitress, bartender, retail clerk or receptionist, for example — and that's confounding their hopes a degree would pay off despite higher tuition and mounting student loans.
  
  Opportunities for college graduates vary widely.
  
  While there's strong demand in science, education and health fields, arts and humanities flounder. Median wages for those with bachelor's degrees are down from 2000, hit by technological changes that are eliminating midlevel jobs such as bank tellers. Most future job openings are projected to be in lower-skilled positions such as home health aides, who can provide personalized attention as the U.S. population ages.
  

  
  
  Very depressing news. :fail3:
  
  From what I gather the causes for grad unemployment are:
  
  - Old people are not retiring fast enough to have vacant job openings
  - Grads are getting degrees that have no use in the job market (E.g. degree in creative writing)
  - Demand is outstripping Supply in certain areas of the job market
  
  The few solutions I can think of are:
  - Force early retirement from old people to open job openings
  - De-emphasis or eliminate non-performing degrees (E.g Arts and Music)
  - Offer incentives (scholarships) for degrees where the job market is needed
  
  I doubt any of my suggestions will happen.
  
  Instead the Baby Boomers will have to die off from old age before any recovery will occur.
  
  By that time the College Grads will be in their late 30s or 40s with a large debt and no money.
• Cynic wrote on 2012-04-23 22:02
  Yep. It also helps to be less picky about what field you get into; i.e. suck it up and work a well-paying job you don't really like for the sake of making your living.
  
  If I'm forced to pick a different career just to make more money I'll do it. But not many people have the same mindset as me, sadly. Or it's just a bit too late for them to jump ship.
• Rin wrote on 2012-04-23 22:18
  Sad, isn't it?
  
  Well, I'd rather not be in the medical field either way.
• Bride wrote on 2012-04-23 22:24

  - Grads are getting degrees that have no use in the job market (E.g. degree in creative writing)

  
  I certainly feel sorry for those people
  
  

  Quote from Rin;846412:

  Sad, isn't it?
  
  Well, I'd rather not be in the medical field either way.

  
  NOPE NTY
  
  Glad I picked a useful major. Still pretty scared of my future college debt though :(
• Taycat wrote on 2012-04-23 22:31
  I guess it's a good idea for me to go to college for Business?
• BobYoMeowMeow wrote on 2012-04-23 22:33

  Quote from Mythical Detective Loki;846428:

  I guess it's a good idea for me to go to college for Business?

  
  
  to be honest
  business is not what the cat would imagine what college would help you with
  then again, that's because all the business people the cat knew barely did any college
  (but they started their businesses in the 1980s and 1990s)
• ValkyrieHamster wrote on 2012-04-23 22:56

  Quote from Mythical Detective Loki;846428:

  I guess it's a good idea for me to go to college for Business?

  
  
  It depends on the type of business degree you get. I myself have a degree in Business Administration with a focus in Information Systems. All of my classes were the standard business courses mixed with a fair amount of technology focused courses. Which basically means I have the education and training to allow me to apply to any job from programming to business development(marketing, project mismanagement, ect etc)
  
  I think another huge factor is location. If you happen to live in an area where there are more companies that match what your majoring you're going to have a much easier time finding work. So if anything depending on whatever you major in, you may have to consider moving to an area that caters to it. Like if you plan on going into Tech of some kind, look into coming to Silicon Valley.
• Taycat wrote on 2012-04-23 22:57
  Bah, I'll probably end up pushing paper for some big business company some day getting paid barely enough to survive.
• Spartaaaaa wrote on 2012-04-25 21:27

  Demand is outstripping Supply in certain areas of the job market

  
  
  That's because our economy is way too over-regulated. In a free market, supply and demand will always intersect.
  
  [video=youtube;YQscE3Xed64]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQscE3Xed64&list=PL1A1574736A279879&index=1&feature=plpp_video[/video]
• Sumpfkraut wrote on 2012-04-25 21:31

  - De-emphasis or eliminate non-performing degrees (E.g Arts and Music)

  
  I can't believe I'm reading this.
• rzetlin wrote on 2012-04-26 02:03

  Quote from Sumpfkraut;848379:

  I can't believe I'm reading this.

  
  
  When I see some of the degrees that Universities are offering I have to shake me my head why they exist.
  
  A degree in puppetry?
  A degree in Latin?
  
  These subjects work well as stand alone classes for electives, but not as a profession.
  
  We must prevent naive people blowing their money on these degrees and have them wonder why they don't have a job when they finish school.
• RebeccaBlack wrote on 2012-04-27 14:55
  Well, if people don't do their research before paying tens of thousands of dollars... they pay for what they pay for. Maybe it "shouldn't" be that way, but unless a law is passed, it's going to be. And if a law is passed, it would be tricky, because things are constantly changing and we shouldn't stop people from learning about things they want to learn about. It's up to the people to decide if they're worth paying for or not.
• Elena wrote on 2012-04-27 16:10

  Quote from rzetlin;846386:

  - De-emphasis or eliminate non-performing degrees (E.g Arts and Music)

  
  
  Wait, what?
  Arts in general or...what?
  I know plenty of fruitful art majors, considering I'm surrounded by them. I'm assuming you mean more obscure ones...
• Tropacat wrote on 2012-04-27 16:20
  Well this sucks, I feel bad for them, and also for the people who are still paying for/off collage.
• Claudia wrote on 2012-04-27 21:36
  One of the reasons why i'm glad I fell in love with my future major is i'm all but guaranteed a job after college.
  
  Even still, I worry.