The lack of employment opportunities for recent college graduates is problematic, the Associated Press reports, citing analysis of government statistics that show one in two graduates are jobless or underemployed.
The analysis “lays bare the highly uneven prospects for holders of bachelor’s degrees,” AP reported. On the other hand, it has always been the case that some bachelor’s degrees are not “worth as much,” in terms of income potential, as other bachelor’s degrees.
That’s why some graduates in AP’s report don’t quite fit the bill as “underemployed.” For example, Seattle barista Michael Bledsoe, 23, earned a creative writing degree in 2010.
“I don’t even know what I’m looking for,” Bledsoe told AP. He said employers questioned his lack of experience or the practical worth of his major. Bledsoe, who “makes just above minimum wage,” received help from his parents to help pay off student loans. He is now contemplating graduate school, seeing few other options. “There is not much out there, it seems,” he said.
Just so Bledsoe and others know: There was never, ever a magical time in our short history of capitalism that a creative writing degree guaranteed you anything after graduation (except an education). You’d think an adviser or parent might mention that.
(Other majors with few jobs, AP reports: zoology, anthropology, philosophy, art history and humanities. Those with the most: nursing, teaching, accounting and computer science.)
The recession may have made rare opportunities even more rare, but like poets, even degreed philosophers have always had a tough time finding employment.
Also, “making just above minimum wage” in Washington means making more than $9.04 an hour. That’s nothing to sniff at, for making coffee drinks.
Perhaps “I don’t even know what I’m looking for” is more the problem than being “underemployed.” In good times and bad, it’s not uncommon for 23-year-olds to not know what they want to do in life. Let’s not blame a college degree for that.
Other truisms expressed in the article that no one shared with the graduates:
“There are so few jobs … It’s all about who you know.” Yes. Always has been and always will be. That’s why you can’t “network” enough and should never burn bridges.
“Every other job wants you to have previous history in the field.” Yes. Sometimes you might have to take a low-paying or even non-paying internship to get some experience in competitive fields.
If getting a college education is only valued because it leads to employment, then we simply need more trade schools and fewer schools of “higher education.”
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