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Overeducated and underemployed

economy.money.cnn.com

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Re: Overeducated and underemployed

#31

Post by cek994 »

drcube wrote: post #19
randomdata wrote: post #2

1 in 5 of the general population have a bachelor's degree, so 1 in 7 seems expected, if not on the low side.

Not if the reason people get those degrees is to get better jobs. If the proportion of degree holders is the same across all jobs, why should someone pay tens of thousands in tuition, plus the opportunity cost in lost wages, for that degree?

Put another way -- how many upper-middle class professionals (doctors/lawyers/engineers) would you say have graduated from college? Many, many more than 1 in 5. You can't deduce data about specific occupations from a broad statistical measure like overall percentage of bachelor's degrees in a population.

Re: Overeducated and underemployed

#32

Post by xijuan »

justin_vanw wrote: post #21

This has the usual journalist bias of putting all graduates in the same bucket. I would like to see the same statistic, but with Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, EE, Mechanical Eng., etc all in their own buckets. There seems to be some kind of outrage that you can go to a good school and get a 4 year degree and end up working with people who just graduated high-school. New grads were probably led up the garden path a…

I don't like what you said. You made it sound like that English and Journalism are easy majors. Even though it is harder to find jobs with those majors right now, they are not necessarily easy majors. In fact, depending on your talents,these majors can be very hard. Taking me as an example, I can never imagine myself majoring in English or Journalism because I dislike writing and I have never done too well in my English courses. To me these two majors would be harder than Math and Chemistry. On the other hand, my friend who is a history major is naturally good at writing but has very difficult times understanding Math related materials. I always admire her for her writing skills and always ask her for help when it comes to writing application and essays. She always wishes that she could be good at Math. Also what majors make good money also depends on the time we are living in. I don't know about American history but I know in Chinese history during the 1910s,people with arts majors would make more money. At that times, China was going through an intellectual revolution in which Western ideas were being introduced. At that times, many scholars would abandon their engineering, economic and medicine degrees and become writers or journalists.

Edit: I don't live in China....

Re: Overeducated and underemployed

#33

Post by SatvikBeri »

carlob wrote: post #24
jcburnham wrote: post #9

Too bad those jobs are going to be replaced by machines.

I sure hope my bartender doesn't get replaced by a machine.

Out of curiosity, why? Do you believe that a machine can't do as good a job mixing drinks, do you want the social element, or is there something else?

Re: Overeducated and underemployed

#34

Post by carlob »

jcburnham wrote: post #29
carlob wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I sure hope my bartender doesn't get replaced by a machine.

It'll happen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=h...

While making that might have been a fun project, that's not where I see myself spending my next night out. :)

On a more serious note, the reason I go to a specific bar instead of another is often the fact that the bartender is a nice guy and I enjoy chatting with them. That's why I don't see some of these job replaced by machines anytime soo.

Another example would be telemarketing: robocalling existed more or less since the phone itself, but people still find pushy telemarketers to be more effective than a machine. For starters it's far easier to hang up on a machine than on a person.

And that's also why retail clerks are more effective than pop-up ads even if they serve more or less the same purpose: "I see you're looking at x would you be interested in y as well?".

Re: Overeducated and underemployed

#35

Post by carlob »

SatvikBeri wrote: post #33
carlob wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I sure hope my bartender doesn't get replaced by a machine.

Out of curiosity, why? Do you believe that a machine can't do as good a job mixing drinks, do you want the social element, or is there something else?

Definitely the social element. I almost never drink cocktails, it's usually a beer or wine, and I hope he's not mixing those. :)

Re: Overeducated and underemployed

#36

Post by groby_b »

jetti wrote: post #10

Being a taxi driver has some advantages (especially if you are an O/O), with the big one being you get to set your own schedule. On top of that, it can generate quite a decent amount of money. I had a friend in college who drove a cab in Chicago on the weekends and he would make at least a grand during his 12 hour shift. I didn't pry too much, so I don't know if that was usual or that semester was out of the ordinary…

At least a grand? In 12 hours?

Quick reality check: LAX has more expensive cabs than Chicago, but let's assume they're equal. A ~30 minute ride to the airport costs me, including tip, ~$40.

A quick verify shows that Chicago is actually $41 for a 31 minute ride, no tip. (http://www.taxifarefinder.com/main.php?city=Chicago&from...)

Given that people need to get in/out of the cab, etc, I think we can stay with $40/30 minutes. That's $80 per hour. $960 if the 12 hours are completely booked solid and people tip well.

And unless he's an independent operator with his own license (which would run him $300K - http://www.cityofchicago.org/content/dam/city/depts/bacp/pub...), he doesn't get to keep all that.

I'd think your buddy was maybe telling a slightly tall tale based on that one night where he ended up with almost a grand in cash at the end of the shift. :)

Re: Overeducated and underemployed

#37

Post by michaelochurch »

The Left wants everyone to go to college because if you educate the proles, they get pissed off about their situation and the waste of their life at the hands of an entrenched elite, and you get a violent revolution (in theory).

The Center wants everyone to go to college because it's an easy way to throw money at deep social problems under the pretenses of improving equality (in theory).

The Corporate Right likes this whole mess because it's a sorting mechanism paid-for by the people being sorted.

I won't even pretend to know what the Radical Right wants. Religious indoctrination, perhaps? They aren't much of a player in the higher-ed debates.

The Corporate Right is the only party that is actually getting what it wants.

Re: Overeducated and underemployed

#38

Post by logn »

philjohn wrote: post #17
zeffr wrote: post #12

I think it's a bit more important to look at which degree was obtained, not just that a degree was obtained. I don't seem to be having any issues here with a CS degree.

And from where.

This has got to be another one of the biggest fallacies. Yes, I would love to see from where as well, and I guarantee it's a minor factor in income. After equalizing for grades, experience, connections, charisma, IQ, motivation, and career goals, I doubt the institution matters much. As a hiring manager, I place little value on the school. It's usually just a function of income, race, personal preference, and legacy status.

Re: Overeducated and underemployed

#39

Post by idiot900 »

xijuan wrote: post #32
justin_vanw wrote: post #21

This has the usual journalist bias of putting all graduates in the same bucket. I would like to see the same statistic, but with Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, EE, Mechanical Eng., etc all in their own buckets. There seems to be some kind of outrage that you can go to a good school and get a 4 year degree and end up working with people who just graduated high-school. New grads were probably led up the garden path a…

I don't like what you said. You made it sound like that English and Journalism are easy majors. Even though it is harder to find jobs with those majors right now, they are not necessarily easy majors. In fact, depending on your talents,these majors can be very hard. Taking me as an example, I can never imagine myself majoring in English or Journalism because I dislike writing and I have never done too well in my Engl…

No. He was commenting primarily on the low market value of English/Communications/etc, and less on whether they are easy things to do. They may be quite hard, but it's easier for an engineer to get paid to be an engineer than it is for humanities majors to do likewise and be paid the same amount. Yes it depends on what time we are living in, but currently we are living in the present.

Re: Overeducated and underemployed

#40

Post by nazgulnarsil »

muzz wrote: post #22
asdfologist wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're taking that word way out of context. "Overeducated" here means getting an academic credential where it isn't necessary. There's nothing wrong with learning a lot, but that doesn't mean you need to pay $200K for a college degree.

Average student debt is $25K, hasn't been increasing that much, except in for-profit schools like Univ of Phoenix: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/01/student-...

correcting rampant old wives tales is pretty much a thankless job, so thank you.
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