So, how's the new economy treating you? (Pittsburgh, Warren: apartments, unemployed)
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Namely, that a full BA/BS is not really needed, but something intermediate. When I was an exchange student in Sweden years ago studying comparative education, I recall that the Swedes had a very well developed technical high school or "gymnasium" system. Basic education would end at about 16, with 2-3 years of pre university or technical training in the gymnasium. So their terminal high school grads actually had fairly strong skills, comparable to an AA degree here. I cannot really remember what I could have done as a US high school graduate. "Recent grad, exceptionally proficiency with semicolon placememt, strong grasp of Algebra II, especially the distributive property, B+ on Grapes of Wrath Report, pole vaulted over 11' with only minor tailwind."
Having spent a lot of time in Sweden I completely agree with you regarding the formula they have for education being amazingly positive. You spend through the equivalent of sixth grade working on basics and then go to the Gymnaset (Gymnasium) for 'technical' training. Though, it's not all mechanics and repair shop. No, Gymnaset is like getting an associates degree in anything from engineering to cosmetology. It's fantastic. People come out ready for entry level positions and able to work (if they choose, remember, Sweden is Socialist.)
More than that? Our equivalent of Post-Secondary education is free in Sweden. It also used to be free to foreigners (that changed last month.) If anything, the Swedes know how to do education.
Our secondary education model was based on the assumption employers would be willing to spend months or years training employees. That may have made sense back when working for one company your whole career was not unusual, but these days employers neither make such assumptions nor provide such guarantees. So the Swedish model would indeed make more sense for us.
I don't think educating the work force is necessarily the answer to the woes of the economy. Education is great, but there are only so many professional jobs to go around.
But educating the workforce does help open up jobs and keeping unemployment rates lower than would be without. Education doesn't necessarily mean an Associate degree program, but workforce or professional continuing education.
I work part time for a local community college and help develop courses as well as teach professionals in healthcare where there is anticipated or current job growth.
These professionals are not moving into jobs outside of their field, just into different areas of their current field. This creates job vacancies where new grads or new hires can move into.
This creates job vacancies where new grads or new hires can move into.
Excellent point. And in general, a diverse set of skills in the labor force will help attract more businesses, and they will in turn employ a range of other people as well.
Great discussion. In response to AlleghenyAngels point about not everyone being ready for professional jobs, I will say I agree, that is naive. One of the things I heard on NPR today was that tech and language work was the new economy. That is probably true to an extent, but we all know that not everyone is cut out to be a software engineer or columnist. We really do need to have a more diverse economy that includes manufacturing and agriculture as well as tech, writing, law, medicine, investment banking,etc.
I have been thinking a lot out the fate of our economy and our future. Out here in Oregon, we are in the tank, and trying to figure out what to do. I hear people ranting about cutting taxes and about reinventing our future. Some folks even say we should try reinvent ourselves to be like Texas. I prefer to compare us to Pennsylvania..similar size, woods, stuck between 800 lb. gorillas (NY, VA) etc.
It seems that Pittsburgh has had some reinvention experience. Can anyone lay out some of the exciting ideas the Burgh has done or is doing to get its mojo back?
Most of the responses to you question are nonsense. Pgh has simply capitalized on two big advantages that it has always had. One is a very strong intellectual base due to Pitt and CMU and the other colleges/universities in the area. The other is big league health science institutes. With the general US economic switch from manufacturing to service and hi-tech Pgh was well positioned.
The other odd advantage that Pgh had was constantly losing population. While just about every other major metro area was growing by leaps and bounds, there was no housing bubble because there was little demand for new housing. As a result, there weren't a lot of subprime loans and the attendant financial collapse when the bubble burst. Unpopularity is sometimes a good thing.
In sum, Pgh's relative success isn't a strategy that can be copied without the basic advantages that Pgh started with.
One of the things I heard on NPR today was that tech and language work was the new economy.
"Language work"? Did they mean foreign languages? It seems no one cares about the English language anymore. Most people in America seem not to be able to spell, or even care about whether they can spell. And it's the same with grammar, and writing a decent sentence.
I don't think educating the work force is necessarily the answer to the woes of the economy. Education is great, but there are only so many professional jobs to go around. I remember it took me almost two years to get a job in my field after graduating from college. Granted, I am from Michigan, where the employment situation is dire.
I think there needs to be an adjustment in this country when it comes to the amount of income that is expected, and needed, to live on. I know that in Pittsburgh, the cost of living is very low, if you do not have champagne taste, anyway. But I think most people have champagne taste!
If you know how to live within your means, I don't think the new economy is going to treat you too bad (in Pittsburgh, at least, where full-time jobs with benefits can be found). In Michigan and some other areas, where there are no full-time-with-benefits jobs to be found, the situation is dreadful and frightening. Here you can find those jobs, but they don't pay a lot. You just have to adjust your income expectations, and living standards, accordingly.
Agree with you completely. Everyone talks about the economy as the problem but the real issues are cultural. Our cultural is overrun with rampant consumerism that is fueled by the constant barrage of advertising and the dominance of 15-25 year olds as the dominant force in pop culture.
The government and the liberals has played a large role, too. When the government handouts made working at a low wage job and the social value of supporting yourself strictly for suckers, then the idea that work has value died.
The unholy alliance among government, conservative big business and the liberal left has molded a toxic culture. That my friends, the real problem, not the economy.
The government and the liberals has played a large role, too. When the government handouts made working at a low wage job and the social value of supporting yourself strictly for suckers, then the idea that work has value died.
That's a blast from the past!
To the extent that was ever true at all (the idea of the "welfare queen" actually being a myth), the notion that anyone could be better off trying to live off welfare rather than working was decisively ended by a combination of mid-1990s welfare reform and the expansion of the EITC.
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