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New Normal: Majority Of Unemployed Attended College

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Re: New Normal: Majority Of Unemployed Attended College

#41
post #12

For some people a college degree can lead to a crippling level of entitlement, and unwillingness to do the kind of work they hoped to escape by attending college. A college degree doesn't preclude someone from waiting tables, cleaning up messes and answering phones. Though many graduates seem to be confused about this. For unemployed colleges grads -- here's a rudimentary formula for success. Start a free website wit…

You know close to 50% of new grads are unemployed right? This is millions of kids a year who were told to get educated and now have no job waiting for them when they do. Acting like millions of kids should just get a job mopping floors and drop the entitlement is super ignorant and borders on dangerous. I would put a lot of this blame on the fact that tax cuts for the rich that were supposed to "raise demand for work…

> You know close to 50% of new grads are unemployed right?

I've been waiting for almost 20 years for the rush of jobs due to the Boomers retiring. I feel sorry for the kids these days.

Re: New Normal: Majority Of Unemployed Attended College

#42
post #12

For some people a college degree can lead to a crippling level of entitlement, and unwillingness to do the kind of work they hoped to escape by attending college. A college degree doesn't preclude someone from waiting tables, cleaning up messes and answering phones. Though many graduates seem to be confused about this. For unemployed colleges grads -- here's a rudimentary formula for success. Start a free website wit…

To some extent, a college degree can preclude you from doing that kind of work. A BA in English won't stop you from working as a barista, but a PhD in it can actually hurt your job prospects. Even for service work where employees are pretty interchangeable, a lot of employers don't want to hire someone that they think (probably correctly) will jump ship at the first chance they get in the field they studied for.

Re: New Normal: Majority Of Unemployed Attended College

#43
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the success rate among entrepreneurs? Don't most small businesses tank within the first three years? Does this really help if "millions of kids a year" are entering the workforce? That said, looking at my (much) younger cousins and their friends, it strikes me that the latest generation of 20-somethings are already impressively entrepreneurial. However, I don't see many of their businesses scaling enough to su…

Most successful entrepreneurs failed at least once until they made it. I can only speak from experience, the startup founder that I worked for had three failed attempts before he made it (relatively) big. My other point was exactly that. Most small businesses will fail, but the ones that succeed will be the job creators (I hate that buzzword!) and hire the ones that didn't make it. After having worked for a startup m…

Don't most kinds of business require some capital to start?

Re: New Normal: Majority Of Unemployed Attended College

#44
Pace comments that STEM majors are not part of the trend, consider this: I started my undergrad education following the dot com bubble years and was dissuaded to pursue compsci. I went into civil (structural) engineering instead. Over half of my civeng classmates would go to postgrad education -- in engineering, law, whatever -- precisely because of the inability to find a job in civil engineering. About a third of my Master's class (structural engineering @ Berkeley, a top school in the field) couldn't find a job upon graduation. I landed a job purely by accident (with a 3.75 GPA), where a better qualified classmate of mine took another year to find one. I haven't kept track of what happened to the rest.

Re: New Normal: Majority Of Unemployed Attended College

#45
English Canadians do not understand why young Quebecois are rioting over tuition price increases despite enjoying some of the cheapest tuitions in North America, even after the proposed increases.

This article helps explain why young people should be upset.

Re: New Normal: Majority Of Unemployed Attended College

#46
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I had student debt I'd be thrilled not to pay it back. This country needs a general debt strike or perhaps a jubilee.

A debt strike would be the ultimate 'hack' of our current economic system.

The right play is to short Apollo Group and Nelnet (loans) and DeVry and other for-profit schools.

Re: New Normal: Majority Of Unemployed Attended College

#47

I'm not sure how college debt works in the USA but in the UK you don't have to payback the debt unless you are earning over a certain paycheck (£15k p/a or so I believe). So if you end up unemployed you don't have to worry about it. Also the debt is written off after a certain number of years and the monthly payment is always calculated at a relatively modest amount compared to your earnings and deducted straight fro…

How is it in the USA? Are you constantly chased for the debt regardless of your circumstances?

There are some exceptions, but generally student loans are something that you're stuck with. That's to say, you can't just shed them in bankruptcy proceedings.

Re: New Normal: Majority Of Unemployed Attended College

#48

I'm not sure how college debt works in the USA but in the UK you don't have to payback the debt unless you are earning over a certain paycheck (£15k p/a or so I believe). So if you end up unemployed you don't have to worry about it. Also the debt is written off after a certain number of years and the monthly payment is always calculated at a relatively modest amount compared to your earnings and deducted straight fro…

How is it in the USA? Are you constantly chased for the debt regardless of your circumstances? There are some exceptions, but generally student loans are something that you're stuck with. That's to say, you can't just shed them in bankruptcy proceedings.

I think it's the same in the UK regards bankruptcy but what happens if you become temporarily unemployed or can only get employment that is very low paid? Is it basically "fuck you, pay me"?

Re: New Normal: Majority Of Unemployed Attended College

#49
post #39
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Deciding that millions of new graduates aren't getting jobs because they are lazy is one of the more ignorant and lazy arguments I've ever seen. How do you interpret the linked article then? "Mopping floors" doesn't literally mean mopping floors, it means settling for the jobs that are available, not the jobs you want.

Your presumption is that there are jobs available; according to the bureau of labor statistics, as of March 2012 there were 3.4 unemployed people for every job opening (roughly double the ratio at the start of the recession back in December 2007).

Statistics on job openings discount the option of working for yourself, which is what holdenc suggested with his "Mop It Up" business.

Re: New Normal: Majority Of Unemployed Attended College

#50
post #39
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Deciding that millions of new graduates aren't getting jobs because they are lazy is one of the more ignorant and lazy arguments I've ever seen. How do you interpret the linked article then? "Mopping floors" doesn't literally mean mopping floors, it means settling for the jobs that are available, not the jobs you want.

Your presumption is that there are jobs available; according to the bureau of labor statistics, as of March 2012 there were 3.4 unemployed people for every job opening (roughly double the ratio at the start of the recession back in December 2007).

I don't know what the overall employment rate has to do with this.

The article looks at the relative employment rate of people who have attended college vs those who haven't. People who have attended college should be more qualified for more jobs than those who haven't. They should be more employed, but they aren't. The simplest explanation(and the one that matches what I've seen/experienced) is that people who have more education are too picky about the jobs and careers they are willing to consider and are therefore finding it harder to get a job.

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