Stop reading Fortune.
Gen Z job crisis: Maybe there are just too many college graduates now
Submitted 1 day ago by return2ozma@lemmy.world to aboringdystopia@lemmy.world
Comments
Bakkoda@sh.itjust.works 7 hours ago
FireRetardant@lemmy.world 1 day ago
There 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. Anecdotally speaking, most of the people I know who have jobs paying enough to purchase a house are in the trades, and most of them have phenomenal job security due to being hard to replace with another worker.
partial_accumen@lemmy.world 1 day ago
There 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.
NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
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.
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?
NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
The trades have always been about becoming a manager before your body gives out. The former often involve an MBA.
There is a lot to be said about a high demand job. But people weren’t stupid nor did they forget about plumbers. They wanted better for their kids. They wanted them to be white collar.
FireRetardant@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Some people aren’t great at white collar positions. I work trades and my boss’s grandson is a teen who is very smart and works hard on some jobs, but he struggles in school. White collar positons for people with high energy or long term focus issues can struggle in them. We aren’t able to let the robots do everything yet so we still need people to work trades. Schools should be providing quality pathways to both.
I think the bigger issue with the trades is the overtime culture and excessive hours most of them face. With better hours with the same pay i think the whole industry and workers standards would benefit.
SaucySnake@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Idk about an MBA but yeah it’s usually about running your own business and hiring young people, training them, rinse and repeat. Pass down the business to your successor, they do the same.
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 1 day ago
For the last 18 years I’ve owned a business that does events on college campuses, so I’ve talked to literally thousands of college students about their majors and future career plans. Over the years I’ve seen zillions of Software Development majors, or similar, and we always talked about how they’ll always have a safe career.
Apparently, we were all wrong.
infinitevalence@discuss.online 1 day ago
Maybe we should not be dependent on exploitive labor to meet our basic needs.
AA5B@lemmy.world 1 day ago
No this is Republican bs. We’ve all been sold the idea that college is only for earning more money, so anything that threatens that means we have too many people going to college?
Think about how long it’s been since 12 years have been the expected base level of education. I’m not going to look it up but it’s been a long time. Now think about how society has changed, even within your lifetime. It’s gotten way more complicated, being able to think has gotten more valuable. everything has gotten more complex, from voting to bill paying to transportation to pretty much every job. How can we really think the same base level of education is ok?
Current politics is a great example why our base level of education needs to be raised.
Let’s add two years to everyone’s education. We already have the institutions: community college, trade and votech schools, apprenticeships, etc. It’s about time that further education becomes expected. Learn a job, learn to think, improve your potential, while also improving your ability to exist in our society, and improve our society overall. This is our future. This is one of the roads to make america great. Everyone needs 14 years of school as a base level and we will all benefit
My state made those extra two years free for most people, to improve overall public education. Time to make it so for everyone
crimsonpoodle@pawb.social 17 minutes ago
I totally agree— in Colorado where I’m from most HS students can take community college classes for free— which is a start, and perhaps more palatable to the average boomer than — “free college” even if it’s sorta the same thing with extra restrictions.
LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
Respec into the trades wouldn’t fix anything either, because it would just as well flood those fields with labor supply and obliterate the wages and union protections there
Formfiller@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Union trades uphold the white male patriarchal hierarchy.
LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 19 hours ago
Mind elaborating on that?
JoMiran@lemmy.ml 1 day ago
Tech Executive for 20 years and in the industry for almost 30 here. If you are going into the technology field and are not loaded enough to go to Stanford or MIT, then I would second the “start at community college for the basics but graduate from a quality state university”. Most people don’t care where the diploma is from and NOBODY cares about your GPA. This applies to probably 98% of the jobs you will come across.
What truly matters most of the time is experience, flexibility, and breadth of knowledge. Make sure you do a tin of independent and well documented projects. A portfolio of your work is far more impressive than a diploma.
If instead of someone with a breadth of knowledge you are a specialist with a deep understanding of a single subject matter, then I suggest that you blog and/or self publish a lot of your work. Help people. Maybe build a community around your specific niche. YouTube etc videos about your niche is also a very good idea.
Finding work is much less about knowledge, because you are starting out and you don’t know shit, and a hell of a lot more about marketing.
fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
Also for the love of god talk to people while there.
Good job openings don’t stay public for long. They usually start internal, and work their way out slowly. Nepotism and cronyism are the best ways to get a good job. You can’t control the former, but you can the latter.
Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world 1 day ago
This is all by intent. They don’t want people educated. Educated people develop critical thinking skills even if they are regressive. They want you just smart enough to do your taxes and vote for whoever hates the best.
MITM0@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
So we need alternative means of educating the public
Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
They are the alertanative. We can just go back to teaching kids with words and teaching them the truth. The truth isn’t a varaible when it comes to past action and events. By words I mean spoken lessons and no tech other than a smart board. In truth they should go back to slate chalkboards. Tech makes the mind lazy.
wuphysics87@lemmy.ml 14 hours ago
Sucks to be an unemployed professor
MITM0@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
Or a doctor or an engineer or an artist. Etc…
technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
Commodify education -> Saturate teenagers with debt -> $$$!!!
Ilixtze@lemmy.ml 1 day ago
And they keep telling us we should breed like rabbits because the population crisis is loooomiiing!
StarryPhoenix97@lemmy.world 1 day ago
If I could go back and do it again here’s what I would do. I’m in a strong union state and I was an honors student.
I would go into a trade out of high-school, carpenters, electricians, he’ll maybe plumber. Hvac pays. Anyway. I was actually a carpenter’s apprentice for a bit.
While getting my hours I would take night classes at a community college. Pittsburgh for example actually had their apprenticeship count as college classes and later you could take actual classes for construction management.
So, I would go into a trade, one that would give me hours and money and hopefully not wreck my body too much in my early 20s. Then community college for construction management and accounting. Then, try to land an office job in plant work or union work. And eventually push on to get a more specialized degree in auditing.
It’s a career path that’s non-traditional but gives you a Ton of options.
Assuming you’re not in a right to work state.
Maeve@kbin.earth 1 day ago
A bit ago I was searching ”common core vocabulary” and ran across a supposed 12th year list. It... Wasn't encouraging.
khaleer@sopuli.xyz 1 day ago
Yeah for sure, especially while people after finishing university want to find a job, and they are unabke to become a shop cashier only because they are not at univ anymore (in there hiring student’s allows for tax break)
altphoto@lemmy.today 1 day ago
I need a microbiologist to come take the green stuff growing on the roof.
ODuffer@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Jet wash!
altphoto@lemmy.today 1 day ago
I have a pressure washer. Do you add anything else to it? I was thinking to add sodium Benzoate to the mix to prevent stuff from growing. Sodium Benzoate creates free radicals from UV but it also survives UV exposure.
altphoto@lemmy.today 1 day ago
Okay…
ABetterTomorrow@sh.itjust.works 6 hours ago
Corporations not hiring*
IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
Why hire expensive college grads when cheap AI is just as good, works 24/7, and doesn’t complain about long working hours and terrible working conditions?