New U.S. college grads now have higher unemployment than the average worker
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Re: New U.S. college grads now have higher unemployment than the average worker
#2Since 2019, although now the gap is higher than ever (1.4%).
College doesn’t prepare you for work as effectively as work, but it also teaches interesting things and prepares for academia (graduate school).
Re: New U.S. college grads now have higher unemployment than the average worker
#3Isn't getting a college degree actually making you more selective, too, leading graduates to pass on jobs they would otherwise have taken?
Re: New U.S. college grads now have higher unemployment than the average worker
#4Isn't getting a college degree actually making you more selective, too, leading graduates to pass on jobs they would otherwise have taken?
I've known a few college graduates who have come up in this market. From what I see, the common pattern is to try and get a position in your field for 3-10 months. Somewhere in that time range, they burn out. Then they apply for something field related for a few months. Then anything. Once they've exhausted all options they usually give up.
We will likely have a similar concept in our country as China's "lying flat" movement unless we make a big shift.
Re: New U.S. college grads now have higher unemployment than the average worker
#5> The comparison is worth pinning down. "All workers" is the whole U.S. labor force, and most of them are older and more experienced than a new graduate, so a fresh grad starts at a natural disadvantage. For decades the degree more than canceled that disadvantage out. Now it does not.
> New grads have not fallen behind their peers who skipped college, either. Young workers without a degree sit at 7.2% unemployment, well above the grads' 5.6%. A degree still beats no degree. What it no longer does is beat the average.
Re: New U.S. college grads now have higher unemployment than the average worker
#6Isn't getting a college degree actually making you more selective, too, leading graduates to pass on jobs they would otherwise have taken?
I've known a few college graduates who have come up in this market. From what I see, the common pattern is to try and get a position in your field for 3-10 months. Somewhere in that time range, they burn out. Then they apply for something field related for a few months. Then anything. Once they've exhausted all options they usually give up. We will likely have a similar concept in our country as China's "lying flat"…
This isn’t really new. When I graduated in 2013 the barista with a college degree was a trope for a reason. Maybe 50% of my graduating CS class had a CS job within 6 months of graduating. Friends with other degrees spent years trying to find something in their field.
Re: New U.S. college grads now have higher unemployment than the average worker
#7Outside of medicine, a non-CS engineering degree, preferably also a masters, remains a good pathway to a reasonable non-parasitic job, although relocation may be required.
Re: New U.S. college grads now have higher unemployment than the average worker
#8Are there people who think college education is a shortcut to generic employment? This seems like a very misleading statistic. Average earnings (including those unemployed), etc might be better. Telling me that it’s harder to get a professional job that I’m qualified for than it is to walk up to a McDonald’s or whatever and get a job is not shocking.
Re: New U.S. college grads now have higher unemployment than the average worker
#9Are there people who think college education is a shortcut to generic employment? This seems like a very misleading statistic. Average earnings (including those unemployed), etc might be better. Telling me that it’s harder to get a professional job that I’m qualified for than it is to walk up to a McDonald’s or whatever and get a job is not shocking.
>Telling me that it’s harder to get a professional job that I’m qualified for than it is to walk up to a McDonald’s or whatever and get a job is not shocking.
But as the graph also shows, graduate unemployment rate was lower for much of 2010s and before, so in some sense it really was "easier" with a college degree.
Re: New U.S. college grads now have higher unemployment than the average worker
#10Are there people who think college education is a shortcut to generic employment? This seems like a very misleading statistic. Average earnings (including those unemployed), etc might be better. Telling me that it’s harder to get a professional job that I’m qualified for than it is to walk up to a McDonald’s or whatever and get a job is not shocking.
> college education is a shortcut to generic employment
That was/is the societal narrative for the last forty plus years, yes.