#OMG: SIX MILLION more students with B.A.s than available jobs
Yessirree. That’s what’s being reported out there:
There are 6,455,300 more students with bachelor’s degrees today than jobs available for them, including jobs that would be created in the next seven years, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the National Center for Education Statistics.
According to the education statistics, therewere 35,632,000 Americans holding bachelor’s degrees from the age 25 to 64 in 2014. That number grows to 45,176,000 if you include those who are 20-24 and 65 years and older.
The BLS, which produces employment projections, calculates how many jobs will be added in the next 10 years with a breakdown by education level.
According to the BLS, there were 26,033,000 jobs that required a bachelor’s degree upon entry in 2012. That number is expected to grow to 29,176,700 jobs by 2022.
This means that the number of Americans who hold bachelor’s degrees now, in their working years, exceeds the number of jobs created by 2022 for bachelor’s degrees by 6,458,300.
What’s going on here? Some really, really smart people are connecting the dots and citing credential inflation:
[…] Neal McCluskey, the director of the Center for Educational Freedom at the Cato Institute, says one of the major problems contributing to this statistic is credential inflation. This happens when employers require a credential that the job doesn’t necessarily need.
“Many more employers may well be asking for credentials mainly because they can, not because they now have the need for certain skills and abilities that people can learn in college and more importantly can only learn in college,” said McCluskey.
“About one-third of people with bachelor’s degrees right now are in jobs that don’t require that credential,” he said. “Many of those are people who—it’s not just the new recent graduates looking for a job—these are many people who they have been on a permanent career track that isn’t a job requires a degree.”
Both former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) touted “tuition-free” college last night in the first Democratic presidential debate.
McCluskey says this will not only drain taxpayers who have to foot the bill but it will make students less likely to really think about their decision to enter college and finish their education.
“Quite simply, when someone else pays your bills you are more likely to consume, and less likely to think efficiently about what you are consuming,” he says. “That’s been the higher education problem for decades, and this plan would have someone else foot even more of the bill.”
“A problem is 10 years down the line with free college, there’s now, say, 60 percent of jobs that require some sort of credential to enter, but it’s not because the skills needed to do the job changed, it’s because you have even more people with degrees,” he said.
[…]
It does not help that American Corporations are shipping U.S. jobs (not just the low paying ones) overseas.
What’s the pressure all high school graduates hear today? GO TO COLLEGE!
Then after four years, they graduate with a bachelors degree in liberal arts, “women’s studies”, or the mating habits of the Australian Fruit Bat. Yes, they have a sheepskin, but most degrees are useless in the jobs market.
If I was an employer, I’d rather hire a military veteran any day, over “all of the above” with their pie in the sky bachelor’s degrees.
We need more “trades degrees” programs in carpentry, electrician, auto mechanics, plumbing, etc.
Also, fewer jobs are available for these kids in Obama’s staggering economy. And yes, corporations are shipping jobs overseas because it is economically feasible for them to do that. The are reluctant to invest in their US holdings due to the federal government’s confiscatory corporate taxes.
Donald Trump has promised to fix that. And you know what? I believe he will. He’s an outsider and a businessman who knows how to get things done, not one of these Washington Insiders who lie thru their teeth, while they thumb their noses at us taxpayers.
What are all high school graduates told to do today? GO TO COLLEGE. After four years, they graduate with Bachelor’s Degrees in “liberal arts, women’s studies, and The Mating Habits of the Australian Fruit Bat”.
Great to have that sheepskin, but useless in the jobs market.
Personally, I would rather hire a military veteran, with a four year degree in hard knocks and reality. Much better employee!
The other problem is Obama’s staggering economy. It has a terminal illness. The Labor department touts an unemployment rate of 5.3%, when in reality, it’s around 12%. Because they conveniently leave out those who have been unemployed so long, they have stopped looking for work.
Donald Trump promises to fix that (including corporations shipping jobs overseas). And I think he will. He’s an outsider and a businessman, and he knows how to get things done.
I’d rather have him, than the slimy Washington Insiders who lie thru their teeth to get elected, then forget what they promised, and thumb their noses at the American people.
It’s also the fact that 100% of new jobs created since 2000 have gone to foreign born/immigrants, both legal and illegal.
Those new high-skilled jobs in STEM and other areas are going to H1B and other visa holders being brought into the country rather than to citizens and new graduates.
100%.
If you do not have a job you can always get a student loan to go to college. Then after college you can become a full time protester calling for the forgiveness of student loan debt.
The college professors are a large and influential liberal special interest group who will never let student loans be cut. Therefore the colleges will continue to turn out more and more graduates who cannot find a job. But the college benefits by the student loan income.
Of course the answer to cutting college costs is “no-show classes.” Think of the money that can be saved.
And even awash in all this student loan money college professors are still whining about their low wages. Just the other day we had some local adjunct professors complaining about their pay. Don’t ask me what an “adjunct” professor is unless it has something to do with junkyards and recycling. But they were complaining nonetheless.
Sorry for the double post (above); my first post did not appear right away.
“Then after college you can become a full time protester calling for the forgiveness of student loan debt.”
Good one, JR!
“Of course the answer to cutting college costs is “no-show classes.”
Those classes are for the football and basketball players (many of whom can’t even read a cereal box). Some schools (like Duke) require their players to attend classes. Many other colleges do not.
Before I became a refugee from The People’s Republic of New York, I was an adjunct instructor at my local community college. Adjuncts are generally professional people, who teach courses related to their careers in the private sector (lawyers, bankers, police officers, etc.). I don’t know if it’s the same down here in North Carolina. You may be right, JR, it could have something to do with junkyards and recycling.
All kidding aside, a junkyard owner in my home town passed away. They found $300,000 under his mattress, and another 100K in various drawers and dressers throughout his house. (True story).