Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

New Normal: Majority Of Unemployed Attended College

news.investors.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 119 posts

Re: New Normal: Majority Of Unemployed Attended College

#51

Post by hnal943 »

jiggy2011 wrote: post #27

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…

You can put student loans on "hardship deferral" in the circumstance where you cannot pay them, but they do not go away and are not bankruptable.

Re: New Normal: Majority Of Unemployed Attended College

#52

Post by hnal943 »

v0cab wrote: post #43
adyus wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Less capital now than ever. Local service businesses like "Mop It Up" would cost almost nothing to operate. The barrier to entry is simply that the work is undesirable. This makes it valuable.

Re: New Normal: Majority Of Unemployed Attended College

#53

Post by cantankerous »

jiggy2011 wrote: post #48
cantankerous wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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"?

On paper yes, but you can't draw blood from a stone. Loans can be adjusted if you can't make payments like any other loan, but your credit will be duly impacted by your inability to meet your obligations. The US doesn't have anything like what you mentioned the UK having for students in general. I think there exist some similar setups for people in particular professions, like teaching, for example, but even then I don't think their benefits are as good as the ones you laid out, but I'm no expert on how all of that works.

Re: New Normal: Majority Of Unemployed Attended College

#54

Post by zygen »

Cushman wrote: post #37
holdenc wrote: 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…

Maybe you live in a place that has a huge undersupply of janitorial labor, but most people do not and it has nothing to do with whether or not they went to college.

You missed the point, which is to make your own job if someone else isn't doing it for you.

Re: New Normal: Majority Of Unemployed Attended College

#55

Post by thisisnotmyname »

sunsu wrote: post #3

Should note that it's "attended college" but not necessarily graduated, and that makes a huge difference.

This should be the top comment. This article seems to be playing games with the numbers. Why do they choose to focus on the fraction of the unemployed? This trend could just be explained by greater numbers of people attending some amount of college relative to the past. They should really show the fraction of college educated unemployed, vs fraction without college educated unemployed, but that wouldn't fit their narrative.

Re: New Normal: Majority Of Unemployed Attended College

#56

Post by soup10 »

Futurebot wrote: post #31

Perhaps it needs to be made very clear, in case there are some that still are confused about why many people (who study non-technical subjects) choose to go to college (aside from many of the well-known ones like the promises of how it would lead to a 1950s style middle-class lifestyle; because their parents made them; because it's rite-of-passage; or because their friends are there), for /whatever/ major they choose…

I used to think on similar lines, that at some point there wouldn't be enough work to do. But it's absolutely Utopian horseshit.

There is ALWAYS useful work to do sometimes there's just of shortage of funds or skilled workers to do it. Look at our aging infrastructure, fix our bridges, tunnels, roads, buildings, houses, etc. Care for our old and sick, learn art and design and make the world more beautiful, engineer spaceships, create amazing entertainment, etc. etc.

Don't confuse market inefficiency with a lack of useful things to do.

Re: New Normal: Majority Of Unemployed Attended College

#57

Post by Apocryphon »

now_what wrote: post #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 m…

Exactly. The STEM vs. liberal arts distinction is overgeneralized and divisive; there are definitely STEM majors out there who are having job issues as well. Not all STEM fields have the same employment opportunities.

This problem should concern all of us.

Re: New Normal: Majority Of Unemployed Attended College

#58

Post by prostoalex »

ryguytilidie wrote: post #14
holdenc wrote: 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…

That, and new Scooba models from iRobot (makers of Roomba), who mop the floor with efficiency similar to those Anthropology majors at fraction of the cost.

Re: New Normal: Majority Of Unemployed Attended College

#59

Post by jarek »

barik wrote: post #30
ryguytilidie wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?" No, I didn't know that, but the statistic itself is largely unhelpful without a demographic breakdown. I would be curious as to the distribution itself by degree. I would additionally hypothesize that degrees that are more "geared" towards entering the workforce (Engineering) would have significantly lower unemployment numbers than degrees that are primarily…

How does the major affect the sheer number of people whose best option is now starting a mopping business?

Re: New Normal: Majority Of Unemployed Attended College

#60

Post by prostoalex »

jchrisa wrote: post #20
ryguytilidie wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The worst part is that just like in the housing bubble, where lenders went into strawberry fields and offered home loans for 300k houses in california to undocumented immigrants making 10/hr and then asked for everyone else to bail them out because they are shocked the person wasn't able to afford the loan. Same thing applies here. You recruit a bunch of people who have no business being at college and certainly can'…

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.

This hypothetical situation would work fine for you, but the guy applying for a loan next year would need to put a down payment for 2 years and have parents co-sign their house as collateral, as risk profile for student loans has changed.
Post reply on HN