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I graduated with a masters in urban planning 2013 WI. Immediately hired afterwards at about 45k and worked for about 9 months. Moved to OC and was unemployed for about 6 months. Now make around 50k.
The job market, at least the job market for college education-requiring jobs, cannot improve much simply because it is mathematically impossible. Our nation (and the world) is producing a large excess of college graduates and has for years. Therefore, a great many college graduates will end up unemployed or underemployed-involuntarily-out-of-field.
DEPENDING ON FIELD, and WHAT WAS CONTAINED WITHIN EDUCATIONAL TRAINING, the expectation of high pay employment upon graduation is not an ideal the Universities should delude young people to believe. Some people have connection via family or other means which gets them a few rungs up, but that is not the standard.
Another matter is, does the graduate seek employment in their field of study? Has the graduate had any real world experience in the field? What is the culture within the industry organization they are seeking employment?
Every year 10's of thousands walk away with their certificate of degree, they should be prepared for the limit of position available, and they should know that moving into higher position upon graduation is not the standard in a great many fields as well as a great many industries.
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A gentleman I know who recently retired, said, when he entered the job market, the reality in the real world was far from what his educational training claimed he was qualified to do. He said it took him years to learn what is the discerned difference between the classroom and the working world.
Often time people are placed in position without any real world background, and in such case there are vast volumes of information one is not equipped with (be aware of this truth). Experience cannot be replaced by classroom information only. Graduates should understand this in very focused concerns, lest they find themselves in very challenged situation which they are ill equipped to manage or work their way through.
Therefore, it is important for the graduate to learn who is the knowledgeable individuals within their employment arena, and draw upon that by building a working interchange of thought, ideas, function and process. Those unable to humble themselves to this learning can be a detriment to themselves and the industry they may find employment.
"Don't" go into a job environment waving the degree as if one has become a "guru". The exception: There are people who are truly gifted with unique ability, who many excel rapidly, but this too is not the norm. So, manage the expectation and avoid the 6-12-18 month flame out. The really gifted don't wave the degree, they are committed to learning and performance with what is known and learned.
Ask yourself the question, are you willing to learn to become a contributor who develops ethical clarity in and about the job? Or, if one is over confident without any real world background to stand upon and result to find they develop a tone of mentality which holds them back for years to come?
No, most are underemployed. Underemployment is a really big problem in this country right now and it is largely ignored
It's never going away and only going to get worse. They can replace human beings with robots in more and more applications that that will only continue.
I don't think people fully grasp the scope of the problem. Those who did get into the right field or have the genetic or mental skills to start their own business don't understand what that problem is.. they think everyone can just drop what they are doing and adapt quickly to the changing environment but it's not so easy for some people.
In some cases there are fields that require college degrees where one is not really required, which arguably could be about half of them. Schoolteacher is a good example.. unless one is teaching high school physics or trigonometry a 4 year degree really is not needed especially for what they get paid in some parts of the country.. not worth the time and effort for the pay...
I really hope so. I really do. But it probably' won't.
Most of my friends who graduated from college only got their first not-underemployed jobs from knowing someone in the position to hiring them, usually a family member or family friend. Only a couple from their internships, and only one from the actual normal application process. I don't see this ratio changing where there will be an even bigger amount of college graduates to pick from; in fact it might even grow. I think most people recognize that college education, at an undergraduate level, can only teach you so much. Most of us know and assume, most college classes are theoretical and not practical so they do not provide specific career training. That we will need on-the-job training anyway! So why not hire someone who we already know what they are like and will probably get along with?
I suggest networking like crazy! That's what I'm currently working on.
It's never going away and only going to get worse. They can replace human beings with robots in more and more applications that that will only continue.
Robots (aka technological advance) are not part of the problem, at least not for the foreseeable future. Improvements in productivity simply free human capital for the production of other forms of wealth. For example, if human labor were no longer required to produce cars, the price of cars would decrease and people would have the money they would otherwise spend on cars to spend on other things, such as new home construction, resulting in replacement jobs.
The real root of our nation's labor problem is two-fold. (1) There's an economic force called Global Labor Arbitrage which essentially merges the Ameircan labor market the billions of impoverished people living in other nations, resulting in an averaging out of wages or standard of living (you can do the math on what that means for Americans). (2) The other problem is that the top 5% is being treated like royalty, especially the top 1%, and being allowed to obtain massive amounts of profits far exceeding the actual contribution to the act of wealth production. This is partially enabled by problem #1. As workers' wages decrease without proportional decreases in the prices of goods and services, profits increase, resulting in an effective wealth transfer from the middle and lower classes to the upper class that owns the capital.
I graduated in 2011 with a biology degree and was underemployed. Got a second bs/add on (my degree is 145 credits including 2 hour labs for 32 hours a week) in clinical laboratory science which took a year and I graduated in 2013. I've been employed happily ever since. I make around 40k a year base and for working an off shift get an additional 7k in NC. Some per diem work brings my salary well into the 50s. Currently thinking about moving out to california to do a similar job. Pay there should be 70-80k+ in major metros.
All my biology friends that went into healthcare do just fine. The ones that didn't though are working at bars/in the service industry. In fact, bio/chem degrees on their own seem to be a huge hindrance to many people. Many low level entry level jobs view you as overqualified, and the skills aren't applicable to much. Even those with masters degrees whine about low pay and job insecurity/low availability. I've met tons of disgruntled postdocs in the field as well with PhDs. I'm guessing however, a solid Ivy League degree might put you in a good spot for a professorship. Even at the state school I attended, most of my professors were Ivy League grads. This is likely due to the vast oversupply of PhDs.
The sad state of a situation – America’s Predicament
There is a saturation of 'degree's" floating around. I wonder if people pay attention to the fact, America GAVE AWAY ITS INDUSTRIAL BASE" in pursuit of slave wage labor in foreign lands. Yet it still tell kids to go to college and chase a degree and feed them delusions of lucrative jobs; when the University already knows there is no full list of jobs for these graduates.
If it was not for "government back and government funded programs", and supplemental government contracts, there would likely be far less jobs for graduates to pursue. Yet, we have a mass of "anti-government people" who detest the government funded programs. Although many who detest government, probably would not be employed themselves if it was not for government funded programs and government contracts.
The private sector has all but created treason against the American people, but the professors won't tell this truth to the students, because many are bought and paid for by big corporation grants which keep the professors working.
No one tells the truth about what is the reality in America.
America would prefer to see any foreign nation who provide slave wage labor to progress, before it would like to see poor whites, women and minorities in this country to progress. It's always been the American system since the days of slavery and indentured servitude through the era of share cropping. All of which is systems that bleed the people for the sake of the wealthy, and then left the people destitute when it found out it could find slaves on foreign shores. As a result it turned American into the 'dumping ground for imports" and turned the American people into dime store and dollar store clerks.
Until there is an uprising at the Ivy Leagues and expose the madness spread across the nation to the many universities, where ethic is dead, and strong nationalist structure is not supported; Sadly, the truth will continue to be hidden and the holders of wealth from the stock traders and brokers to the industrialist, will continue to bleed the people of this nation and then feed them the same of spill of telling the American people " we can't compete".. Yet, we pay the same price for this imported stuff, as if it was produced by an American Living Wage Employee. We had better wake up, and teach that America is made strong through the works of its people, the production of its industry and the system of governance which supports that programming, and a governance that understanding the only way to be a strong global player, is first and foremost to be a strong nationalist producer of goods and services through the labors and education of its people, who understand and support this premise. We cannot any longer live by seeking out slaves on foreign soil. The thirst of America to retain its slave seeking mentality, is a era that should have died out with slavery, instead we only found a new method of slavery, by seeking it on foreign soil. We need to get the 'Slavery System Grooming Out of Our American Consciences" - first we have to recognize this is what has destroyed us, only then can we wake up to invoke change. Seeking slaves built this nation as well as now it has destroyed the industry of this nation. When will we learn that Slavery is Evil !!!!!! whether its on American soil, or sought on Foreign Soil... It is and will always be a self destructive force.
Example: Iphone- why does American pay 2-3 time more for this unit than it cost to produce it? At that rate of return, why can't it be produced on American soil - still the sellers of this crap will still make and earn 100% above production and distribution cost. But we American's are too unaware to challenge the nature of this mess, because we are too busy posting to face book and downloading do nothing apps, and playing games. We'd rather chase the 'popularity of a name brand", that look at the facts behind it. We act as if we are incapable to know how to use machinery and manual labor in concert, yet, China does it everyday to a levels that makes us look like amateur and greed monsters who can't figure out how to keep its own people employed.
Ask yourself, why is there no American Made Products such a Purses, with a world known marketing stand. Yet people pay an outrageous sum for some plastic, with cheap cloth lined with leather strips, just because it has a French Name. Does this imply there is no creative and qualified American Designers ????? Evidently so, because for the past 30 yrs, people have been chasing these foreign branded purses and paying outlandish prices for it.
Are we to continue to accept that American can't even produce the clothes we wear? because most of the attire is made in a foreign land. Yet, we wonder why we don't have jobs and the infrastructure is crumbling and cities going bankrupt.
Today, we can't even grow fruits and vegetables, we eat because Central and South Americans, continue to produce agriculture produce. anything produced on American soil is injected with deadly chemical rather than produced naturally for the health and nourishment of people, instead it is chemically filled only for the sake of profit at the expense of the health of the people. We produce OBESITY, by non digestible chemical and fat producing ingredients in everything produced on American soil as claimed as being edible.
So, what good is all these Degree's, when information is used to defeat the good nature and good will of the humane system of American life. When we can't even provide 40% of the things we consume and utilize within the American Landscape and system of business on American Soil ?????
The biggest business in America is OVER SATURATION WITH ADVERTISING. We get ripped off with Cable, and even allowed Cable to disband Analog TV, so cable could dominate and charge us, to watch 5 minutes of commercials for every 7 minutes of a show. We can't flip an internet page and find what it claims, because they bombarded the page with advertisement and want you to click to another page so they can sell more advertisements, all while giving tid bits of a incomplete story.
We had better pay attention, and realize we've groomed a mass of executives who have no ethics, and will bombard a gullible society with non-sense and promoting foreign made products, and then boast revenue for advertising in the 10's and 100's of Billions of Dollars on multiple web site. Is this what we graduate people and claim degree for ???? Yet, we are gullible by the lure of drama and absurd slap stick comedic ignorance, to continue to watch this stuff and be lulled into paying cable for access to watch a bunch of advertisements.
"Cable started out as PAID TV, and the reason it was Paid, was because it was void of advertisement and did not show any commercials. Now it is nothing but commercials, with the delusion of over dramatized shows that do nothing but further erode the sense of dignity and integrity in what its programming presents.
We wonder why the world of life in American seems unhinged, then we need only consider what we push in the media programming to find our answers.
Unfortunate as it is, we have expanding ineptitude in so many fields today, until its absurd, to get any kind of quality service, one has to be in the upper income ranks and pay and excessive fee to get ethical based service. Yet, we say nothing and go about as if we don't know any better than to accept ineptitude even when it comes to our lives and our health concerns. We are bombarded with killer pills, telling us all the side effects, as if we are to self subscribe our-self to these medications. the doctors give us what is the highly marketed product, instead of actually finding our what is the problem and carefully select the treatment program and then move toward providing more of a cure program, rather than just a treatment.
We have a long ways to go to get off the 'status bandwagon, and get back to being a nation which actually cares to have integrity and ethics in profession, above a simple money chase of who can get wealthy the quickest. But, the question is: "do we know enough to even demand this change?????"
How many "do nothing" Degree's have been sold to our young people, leaving them indebted and unable to find viable employment. How many Degree have been sold, where the recipient does not know enough about a particular field to be functionally contributory to the field? How many who hold degree, who have NEVER worked anywhere close to the field they claim their degree?
We hail people with PhD, who have become nothing more than people who are in their minds, above being questioned and do not listen, because "how dare anyone say anything, when one claims they are a PhD".... how dare you try to have a informed conversation, when the PhD takes it as an insult, just because you are talking to or trying to talk with them.
We have economist, who can't think in simple terms to revert back to the understanding that "Industry Builds Nations", they ignore this premise when they are paid to say what ever the profit seekers tell them to day.
Yet, we've seen what Industry has done for China, it has uplifted and set this nation ahead of us in only 40 years, where we are now the debtors to China, and cannot function as a nation without the imports from China.
Still these Economist won't support RE-INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF AMERICA. It's purely insane !!!!!! and we go along with this ignorance and brainwashed spill of madness out of the mouths of these imbeciles.
Our kids now are work and labor averse, they have been deluded to think they will all get clean hands, no labor administrative jobs - until they resent the labor involved work, and have been made to detest industrial factory labor works. Kid now walk around in flip flops to even pajama bottoms, as if they have a life of leisure chasing material external status imagery, until they have a detestable mentality when it comes to the elements of work. if you don't give them a title, and let them be off when ever they want, they simply quit and job hop for the next 10 yrs until they find out they have squandered their life chasing delusions.
American helped itself and the world, when it had industry - we created systems and programs to benefit society, the global system and everything about and across the world.Then we got dumb enough to think only "paper shuffling was the answer" and gave up our industry. This is the ignorance we gained from the reliance on "degree's as being the answer to everything. All it produced was a lot of people, expecting to be paid to shuffle paper, detest labor and have a disdain for industrial function on American soil. They became so elite minded, they did not beleive in 'hands on work" for Americans, they only cared about seeking slaves on foreign soil, so they could do nothing but "push paper and shuffle paper" and get paid. RESULT !!!! American Declined as rapid as the spike in reliance on degree's rose. Respect for workers, and regard for labor industry was decimated by degree mentality who despised the worker being paid anything close to what a degree rider earned. so they busted the Unions, and disbanded companies, shipping production to foreign shores.
Still we remain unaware to tie the dots and pay attention and learn how to change this mad and sad paradigm.
Ask yourself -
Why can't Americans produce "appliances" ?
Why can't Americans produce computers on American Soil"
Why can't Americans produce shoes?
Why can't Americans produce clothes?
Why can't American produce nuts and bolts?
Why can't American produce its own cinder blocks?
Why can't American produce building materials?
Why can't Americans produce furniture?
Why can't American produce the same plates, knives and forks they eat from?
Why can't American produce, the carpets that cover their floors, or the wall paper that covers their walls?
Look at construction projects: Americans are so ill willed in these professions, nothing can be built in a timely manner and within cost ranges, its' over budget, and delayed timing while the gouging continues and then we result to build substandard construction. It's INSANE.
We can't build a high speed rail, because we can't trust contractors to do the job they were paid to do in a timely and cost managed process. We have people who gouge on land cost, and then paper work games that delay everything while it seeks another means to fleece the people. This is the wilds of private enterprise.
The only way we will get a High Speed Rail, is to have a government organizations with government employees designated to specific projects. If it is left up to private industry the cost will triple or quadruple and the delay will become years upon years. Left to Private Industry, by the time all the bribes and under the table payments and rip off are made, there will be no more than "5 cent" on the dollar left for the projects material and labor needs.
If we want anything built or done right, "KEEP THE POLITICIANS OUT OF IT" their job should be limited to authorizing funds !!!!! IF; We want to design and construction done right, then we rely on the Army Corp of Engineers to Approve Plans. Today; if we had to build Hoover Dam, between politicians and corrupt contractors it would never get done. Eisenhower Freeway plan was brilliant, yet; today we can't even maintain what so much effort went into building. This is the pathetic nature of the degree riders who collude any project all while they are bent on overpaying themselves, and wanting their name stamped on something. We can't even modernize our cities because "degree riding ego maniac" - are busy grid-locking something, all trying to give themselves some unquestioned notoriety. while waiting for a under-the-table payoff, to either get out of the way or stamp the "go" to the project.
We complain about Chinese Corruption, while holding a blind eye to the stagnation nature of corruption in our American system.
We can respect the degrees in sciences, technology, engineering, medicine and Law, but Law has to be based on core ethics and not based upon "sham the system for billing hours and collusive profit angles and justifying wrong doing".
We had better start asking these questions if we expect for America to regain its ability to be America?!?
Last edited by Chance and Change; 05-25-2015 at 08:39 AM..
of course not, those questions were valid though. For example, $40,000 a year isnt gainfully employed in my region
For whom??? I just did a cost of living comparison from my area to your area and $40,000 for a new grad, likely single person is MORE than enough to have a comfortable life in the Miami area. Now, if you have a wife, 5 kids and a big mortgage, probably not.
All of the recent college grads are employed in their fields or are going on to further their education, and most of them in fully funded Master's programs, but several in law (will scholarships), medicine, etc. The only people we know that are recent grads (past 3 or so years) that are underemployed or not employed are those that think they should have the CEO job right out of college . They've been offered jobs but turned them down because the salary wasn't good....it was a pretty normal staring salary for their field in the area.
The job market is what you make of it. Yes, there are some ares of the country that are still struggling but for the most part, employers can't find enough people to fill jobs. If you are not willing to expand your search area, then it's your fault you don't have a job.
I'm a recent graduate who is debating about moving to another state for work. So far, I have been offered one job answering phones for 9$ and hour. I want to know about entry level positions. I would be happy working in many fields, including customer service, but I want to make a liveable wage. Thanks.
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. They've been offered jobs but turned them down because the salary wasn't good....it was a pretty normal staring salary for their field in the area.
