Comment on Gen Z job crisis: Maybe there are just too many college graduates now
partial_accumen@lemmy.world 1 day agoThere were entire generations told diplomas were the only path to success and only “stupid people or drop outs” would do trades or jobs without a degree.
I wouldn’t go as extreme as saying “diplomas are the only path to success” but even today, over time, a college degree is a better predictor of being employed than non-degree. The graph in the article shows this:
That dark orange line at the lowest measurement of unemployment is folks that have had a college degree and older than 27 years old. Keep in mind, the graph is covering about 35 years, so those earlier on the chart, in say the beginning in 1990 as the blue line with higher unemployment than older college grads join the older college grad statistic in 1997.
Further, the article is focusing on recent college grads being unemployed, but the graph shows that even this group has a significantly lower unemployment than “all young workers” which presupposes that group doesn’t have a degree.
So even today “get a college degree instead of not” is good advice if you’re looking for future employment. The extra advice I’d give on top of that is “don’t go crazy into debt to get that degree”. Folks graduating with a six figure student loan debt with only their bachelors are likely decades behind their peers that didn’t take on such a large debt load. Community College people! Use it!
Trades can also be good, and I don’t want to discourage that, but recognize the physical toll on the body it takes over a career and make sure to plan accordingly to transitioning to leadership or a lighter desk role as you advance in your trade career.
To add on to the community college bit:
Nobody who cares about what undergraduate university you went to actually cares. As long as it was an accredited program for the last year or two, you are good. And those who claim to care actually just care about who you networked with.
Things matter more for graduate school. But for undergrad? Save your money and do the first year or three at community college.
Since we’re plugging community college more, I’d also like to add that quite a few community colleges offer bachelors degrees now! Many of these are a small fraction of the cost of a traditional 4 year school (even far cheaper than 4 year state schools from what I’ve seen).
I wish these were a thing when I got my Bachelors degree.
Here’s an example of a Bachelor of Applied Science, Electrical Engineering Technology for less than $12,000 in tuition! (tack on another $2k for books I’d guess for 4 years), but $14k for a bachelors is damn cheap!
Search your state to see what schools near you offer these and in what programs:
I would still make sure to verify they are an accredited program. The bar is REALLY low but it is also a super easy filter.
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 1 day ago
Excellent post, and I’m glad you looped in the student loan issue. That’s the real problem.
Everyone would get a college diploma if they could afford it, it’s never going to HURT your career plans. The problem is if it is WORTH the incredible cost of it? If it leads to career that is lucrative enough to pay off that debt, then it’s worth it, but more and more it either doesn’t lead to that job, or the job it leads to doesn’t pay enough to pay off the loan. That’s just a bad investment, and we shouldn’t be encouraging and facilitating young people to get themselves into enslaving debt at the very beginning of their adult lives.
We have to start seeing runaway student loan debt as a National Security problem. We are already seeing major changes in societal structures, as more and more young, working adults live with their parents, living in a vehicle is becoming a viable housing choice, people are avoiding marriage because they don’t want to combine their student loan debt (or take on someone else’s), couples aren’t having children, they aren’t buying houses, furniture, etc. Some people are even deferring retirement because they STILL have student loan debt to pay off first.
In another time, all those people with motorized e-bikes or skateboards would have been driving cars, but the cost of even a used car is too expensive. Too bad you can’t live in it, too.
It is already starting to affect our economy, and every year we graduate another wave of Americans into a lifetime of crippling debt that will keep them from properly contributing to the economy. How many more years can we do this before there just aren’t enough people who can afford to live in this society?