New U.S. college grads now have higher unemployment than the average worker • Hacker News Board

Re: New U.S. college grads now have higher unemployment than the average worker

#151

Post by crims0n » Sun, Jun 07, 2026, 1:05 AM UTC

jagged-chisel wrote: post #104

crims0n wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is broadly true for all concentrations in cyber. There is no entry level. Your first job should be learning how what you want to focus on works… be it networking, sysadmin, devops, vendor risk management, etc. Unfortunately, cybersecurity was a hot topic in the education market and people got sold on the idea that they could get a six figure job with nothing but some theory and an entry level certification.

> Your first job should be learning how what you want to focus on works. Then what was the purpose of sitting for a degree?

There is theory to learn and it is important, but it is all for naught if you don’t understand how what you are protecting works. You need both for an entry level position - there is a reason those positions pay as well as they do.

Re: New U.S. college grads now have higher unemployment than the average worker

#152

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Jun 07, 2026, 1:12 AM UTC

majormajor wrote: post #102

simonw wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> increasing supply isn't going to solve our many problems leading to widespread homelessness and financial insecurity Why not? (I guess I'm a "dunce", but I'm one that's ready for that conversation)

Being charitable here (though... when called a "dunce" it's hard sometimes to want to be charitable), the statement would be perfectly correct if slightly reworded to: "increasing supply isn't going to solve many of our problems leading to widespread homelessness and financial insecurity" It would just help with some of them. But that's a statement that's obvious on the face of it - cheaper housing costs buy time if…

[deleted]

Re: New U.S. college grads now have higher unemployment than the average worker

#153

Post by b3ing » Sun, Jun 07, 2026, 1:17 AM UTC

nradov wrote: post #119

b3ing wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Deadbeat adult children? That’s definitely American thinking. That’s why I tell people family isn’t #1 in America it’s like #3 or 4

Nonsense. Supporting adult children after they've finished education equates to putting family last , not first. Some youths need a forcing function to reach their full potential.

People in other countries don’t do this. Some live at home until they are married

Re: New U.S. college grads now have higher unemployment than the average worker

#154

Post by smallmancontrov » Sun, Jun 07, 2026, 1:18 AM UTC

simonw wrote: post #79

throwaway27448 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not just our young—that just receives disproportionate attention. The entire country is being actively looted under the guise of "economic growth". Anyway, increasing supply isn't going to solve our many problems leading to widespread homelessness and financial insecurity, but the Ezra Klein dunces aren't ready for that conversation yet.

> increasing supply isn't going to solve our many problems leading to widespread homelessness and financial insecurity Why not? (I guess I'm a "dunce", but I'm one that's ready for that conversation)

Abundance only solves scarcity if scarcity is the problem, but the actual problem is economic exclusion, which will always be able to outpace abundance because abundance has physical limits while exclusion does not.

Re: New U.S. college grads now have higher unemployment than the average worker

#155

Post by epistasis » Sun, Jun 07, 2026, 1:23 AM UTC

adgjlsfhk1 wrote: post #118

throwaway27448 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not just our young—that just receives disproportionate attention. The entire country is being actively looted under the guise of "economic growth". Anyway, increasing supply isn't going to solve our many problems leading to widespread homelessness and financial insecurity, but the Ezra Klein dunces aren't ready for that conversation yet.

The biggest problem that increasing housing supply can solve is the gap between minimum and median apartment price. In places with very constrained housing markets the cheapest slumlord apartments are very expensive (~70-80%) compared to the price of well maintained apartments. Increasing housing supply doesn't do much to the median housing price (since new houses are expensive), but it lets the price of shitty apart…

Building adequate housing also brings down the medium cost, by a lot. At worst, it prevents the median house from rising in price.

Prices are set through a combination of supply-demand and cost of providing housing. Almost all increase in housing costs are coming from land price increase, due to land shortage from planning policies that limit land use density.

Housing has been made into an investment first, and a home second, by creating housing austerity and shortage. The only way to prevent housing from being an investment is to stop the artificial shortage of housing.

Re: New U.S. college grads now have higher unemployment than the average worker

#156

Post by chr15m » Sun, Jun 07, 2026, 1:27 AM UTC

It's smartphones (~2008).

Re: New U.S. college grads now have higher unemployment than the average worker

#157

Post by weakened_malloc » Sun, Jun 07, 2026, 1:30 AM UTC

ashdksnndck wrote: post #126

0xDEAFBEAD wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what are remaining high-paying white collar jobs which aren't exposed to this type of foreign competition? I'm thinking lawyer, since legal skills aren't as portable across international borders?

Forget white collar. Figure out a career that makes use of your hands. Or make enough money to retire in the next couple years.

Unironically the most simple (note; not easy) way to become a multi-millionaire. Do a trade in your 20s, leverage that into running your own trades business in your 30s, and have a >10m valuation business by your 40s.

Really regret not doing that myself.

Re: New U.S. college grads now have higher unemployment than the average worker

#158

Post by dmm » Sun, Jun 07, 2026, 1:31 AM UTC

mcmcmc wrote: post #143

dmm wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's a k-type curve where the high deciles are getting higher and the lows are getting lower The lowest quartile of income have had the highest growth the past four years.

[flagged]

He didn't post a source either. Go look at the Atlanta Fed's wage growth data if you're actually interested.

Re: New U.S. college grads now have higher unemployment than the average worker

#159

Post by WarOnPrivacy » Sun, Jun 07, 2026, 1:33 AM UTC

jibal wrote: post #53

WarOnPrivacy wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A lot of the entry jobs in tech though are not complicated and can easily be taught on site but even then, companies have defaulted to requiring years of prior experience even for those positions. I graduated with an AS in programming in the mid-late 1990s. I continually sent resumes for 18mos and got back 2 replies. I had 2 major strikes against me. I was a new coder. I worked in a region that was reluctant to con…

The Contract On America as many of us called it. And Newt's legacy has metastasized into even more virulent forms.

Zoe Chase did a great background on Newt. It's from some years ago and she notes how he generated animosity on a national scale and leveraged it raise Republican voting numbers.

It's quite good. Zoe is really interested in this stuff. The reporting isn't confrontational, it's just how things unrolled.

ref: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/662/transcript

Re: New U.S. college grads now have higher unemployment than the average worker

#160

Post by cucumber3732842 » Sun, Jun 07, 2026, 1:35 AM UTC

nostrebored wrote: post #136

materielle wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if I don’t care about affording more things? And instead want to live in an ethical society that prioritizes stability and universal access to housing, healthcare, and education?

i think the reason for your deluge of downvotes is that a society the promotes more things becoming affordable is one that prioritizes stability. universal access to housing, healthcare, and education that people want is only possible in a society that is immensely productive.

Exactly. Those big ticket items that people are pissed off about are "things" too.