A few months back, I wrote an article that didn’t go over too well. It was titled, “A Question for all you Communications Majors“. The article was initially meant to focus on how kids are going to college, taking on massive debt and graduating with majors that leave them unable to pay it down given their prospects upon graduation. And for whatever reason, I went off on a tangent about Communications degrees, renamed the article as such and well, that’s history. I wrote it, I own it now. So, after being toasted all over the web for that one (primarily by bloggers who majored in Communications), here’s the actual data that matters. This comprehensive report from the Wall Street Journal shows what the unemployment rate is by major based on 2010 Census data. While I picked on Communications majors for whatever reason, there are several degrees that fare much worse (Communications actually fared relatively well compared to my preconceived notions). Rather than make you sift through the 10 page slide decks at HuffPo and other outlets that picked up this story, here are the screen shots of the data that I thought were interesting – sorted by Highest Unemployment Rate by Major and Highest Salary by Major with a focus on the 75th percentile.
Continue Reading to See the Data and Analysis for Unemployment by Major
DEAR MILLENNIALS, a.k.a. The Generation That Will Save Humanity
Do NOT choose these majors for your $100,000 Edumucation!
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DEAR MILLENNIALS, a.k.a. The Generation That Will Save Humanity
If you chose another major from the ones listed above … good for you!
This is your future.
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What does it take to be a machinist/cnc operator.
Golden Tool
Some community colleges or trade/vocational schools offer some classes that focus on this area. Most companies don’t require schooling but rather look at your past experiences and what type of manufacturing programs were utilized. You must be able to read prints and operate the CNC machines and this skill is usually learned “on the job”. If you are fairly astute and willing to learn, you can self educate yourself in this area by learning the software which is one step. The best thing to do would be to try and find a company that is willing to teach someone the skills necessary to operate the machine. Once you learn these skills and gain experience, you can get more involved and take on new roles. It takes time to learn the software and understand the processes of operation but it isn’t rocket science.
By the way, I’m no expert in this area nor have I ever worked a CNC machine. I sell for a few manufacturing companies that use these machines and I know we are currently looking to hire someone to operate a new machine. Based on what I have seen in the field, the demand for CNC operators seems pretty good. Some of my customers have asked me if I know a welder or CNC operator since they are looking to hire in that area. My best advice is to try and find a small business that is looking for a CNC operator since they may be more open to bringing on a newbie with no experience and teaching the skill set.
jmarz
Good real life information!
Some miscellaneous factoidsb
The average college graduate student debt is $25,200.
There are more engineers in Bangalore,India than in the state of California — they earn av. $6K a year.
White show law firms are outsourcing routine legal work to India. IRS tax forms are processed in India. Years ago, it was revealed that Chinese data farms were processing airline ticketing and billing.
As far as I know, NIA did the first expose on the college bubble. It took a while for other experts to discover the topic.
What would be useful is not only data on ‘crap degrees’ but performance of those areas people say are worthwhile … in computer science, for example, how many graduates are employed in the U.S. vs. those H1Bs. Could it be Millennials have figured out the whole thing is a charade?
The rare earths area — R&D started in the U.S., production soon outsourced. Then it seemed more efficient to put R&D in the same place. Now ~they~ own it.
So. Why bust your ass on an intensive high-tech curriculum when you can slide through ~social work~ and get a gubmint job — or even an HR position in one of the many companies run by accountants and lawyers who have NO idea what their business really is, and no idea how to hire, so they let someone ~ualified~ do it.
Stucky, that chart is absolutely awesome; never ceases to amaze me where you guys get this stuff…hilarious.
Jmarz, agree, the things that can never be outsourced are jobs where skills are required locally. You can’t have a guy in Taiwan repair your car or weld in the US. Natural resources and energy trades should continue to do well here (like the top salary list in petroleum, nuclear, etc.), and machine operators as long as those business are staying here like the CNC you mentioned.
There are TONS of engineers spewing out of India and China. What I’ve found though is an emerging market engineer does not equal a US engineer. They way other countries teach, learn, cultures, etc., still tend to favor Americans’ ability solve problems, lead teams, innovate, design, etc. Might sound a bit cliche, but most companies would probably take US engineers over foreign engineers any day even at the higher rate for Higher complexity work or leadership roles. As far as low level stuff, the world surely is flattening and there’s no combatting it.
Standard of living must decline in US, it is a mathematical certainty.
Thanks DM. Yet … two people voted thumbs down on that chart. I’m betting they’re college grads working at McDonalds. LOL
Nitpicking here … just for the sake of conversation. But I would slightly modify your statement thusly;
” … things that can never be outsourced are jobs where HANDS ON skills are required locally..” like the auto mechanic who obviously can’t change your oil filter from China.
But I am amazed at the types of jobs that are able to be outsourced, especially white collar jobs. Shit. I believe Tax Returns are now prepared in …… India!!