Tag: College graduates

How to Survive the Journey Ahead: A Graduation Message for a Terrifying Age

Guest Post by John W. Whitehead

“No matter who you are, no matter how strong you are, sooner or later, you’ll face circumstances beyond your control.” — Cersei Lannister, Game of Thrones

Those coming of age today will face some of the greatest obstacles ever encountered by young people.

They will find themselves overtaxed, burdened with excessive college debt, and struggling to find worthwhile employment in a debt-ridden economy on the brink of implosion. Their privacy will be eviscerated by the surveillance state. They will be the subjects of a military empire constantly waging war against shadowy enemies and government agents armed to the teeth ready and able to lock down the country at a moment’s notice.

As such, they will find themselves forced to march in lockstep with a government that no longer exists to serve the people but which demands they be obedient slaves or suffer the consequences.

It’s a dismal prospect, isn’t it?

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2018 Graduates: Beware Jobs Market Landmines

Guest Post by Joe Guzzardi

In June, about four million teenagers will graduate from high school, and another three million or so will earn associate or four-year university degrees. The happy graduates should view cautiously the strong May Bureau of Labor Statistics report that showed growth in employment and wages. While the economy added 223,000 jobs in May and for the year average hourly earnings increased 2.7 percent, an ever-expanding labor force assures that essentially stagnant wages will continue to plague American workers and keep the U.S. locked in a wage recession.

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College Graduate IQ In Freefall

Hat tip Gayle

Via Confessions of a College Professor

One of the weird things about higher education is how the smart people are fleeing it. Now, that’s at the grad school level, and I noticed it seemed to start just about the time I was done with graduate school: my most talented friends were getting their Ph.D.s, seeing what higher education had to offer, and decided an academic career was a terrible idea. They headed to the “real world” never to do anything for education or research. It takes brilliance and character to conceive “the four years spent getting a Ph.D. was a waste, and I need to do something different,” and walk away from all that hard work. I acknowledge my error here.

That’s my anecdotal evidence regarding the really smart people (although I’m not alone in seeing it), but what of the rank and file college student? What’s been happening there? A helpful chart answers the question:

It may only seem like a few points every decade, but in terms of statistics, there’s much to be said about this chart.

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Commencement Graduation and Employment Prospects

Guest Post by James Hall

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Is it worth going to college to secure viable employment? Once, the future looked bright, for students earning a university degree and selecting from various offers from employers. Today the mere notion that such a question can and should be asked illustrates that the American economy has greatly transitioned into a very insecure and tenuous career opportunity society. When the lack of employment realities drives job seekers to leave the search for rewarding positions that offer a chance for a path to attaining middle class aspirations, the entire labor equation needs to be rethought.

Putting forth the optimistic viewpoint that Job chances are up for Class of 2015, spins prospects are improving.

“According to the available numbers, hiring is projected to increase somewhere between 8 and 16 percent for the class of 2015. Graduates in California and across the country are benefiting from good timing. The economy is rebounding, baby boomers are retiring and companies that put off hiring are short-staffed.

But new graduates are competing with a backlog of recent grads who also are looking for work and may have more experience. Despite the recovery, the unemployment rate for young college graduates is still north of 7 percent. The underemployment rate – which also counts part-time workers who want full-time jobs and discouraged workers who have stopped looking – is nearly 15 percent.

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The Speech Every 2015 College Grad Needs to Hear

“In effect, you are graduating with a mortgage but no house. And what did you get? A subprime education.”

“To those who majored in gender studies, film deconstruction, or any other of today’s academic fads, to you I have this advice: when this commencement speech is over, do not bother looking for a job. Instead go straight to the unemployment office.”

“Graduates, you have been saddled with debt and bad ideas. Good luck, you’re going to need it.”


THEY SAID GO TO COLLEGE

When I graduated from college in 1986 it was easy to get a job. The economy was booming and 82% of college graduates had a job. The other 18% were probably raising kids because their college educated spouse made enough to raise a family. The mantra for my entire life has been – go to college and you’ll get a good paying job. It seems something went wrong on the road to riches. The percentage of college graduates with jobs has been falling for the last 30 years and has been plummeting since 2008. It is now at an all-time low of 74.3%. Shouldn’t these people have obtained jobs since the government tells us the unemployment rate has dramatically dropped from 10% to 5.5% since 2009?

Bachelor Degree Labor Force Participation

Not only is college graduate labor participation at record lows, but those getting jobs didn’t need a college degree in the first place to get that job, in the majority of cases. A new Careerbuilder survey indicates that though the majority of Class of 2014 college graduates are currently working, 51% of that group are in jobs that don’t require a degree. This is up dramatically from the 38% found in the 2010 US Census survey. The Careerbuilder survey also found that only 36% of 2014 college graduates had obtained full-time permanent jobs. The findings are as follows:

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