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Unemployment is standing at an at least thirty year high. Even college degree holders are not exempt from the pits of long-term unemployment. It has been estimated that only one out of five recent college graduates in the past six years are working full-time in jobs requiring a college degree. This is quite troubling seeing as only a little more than one quarter of the American population has at least a bachelor's degree. America does not have enough jobs for college educated people let alone working age people without degrees. The problem is very pronounced in places like California where there are only about 50,000 job openings for college graduates despite the fact that the Golden State graduates around 150,000 people annually.
But do not fret under/unemployed heavily-indebted recent college grads, the smart anonymous people on the internet have some good advice for you and that advice is "GET A REAL DEGREE!!!". What does this mean? Well, it means that more kids should supposedly be studying more academically demanding fields like engineering and computer science. Superficially, this makes sense. Engineers design the complex world around us from everything from keeping airplanes in the sky to keeping bridges standing and sturdy. Computer scientists engineer and design the digital realm we navigate in our increasingly Matrix-like society. This is why engineers and computer scientists are paid such high salaries. However, complex fields like engineering and computer science require above average math and science skills. America ranks damn near dead last in terms of math test scores. Most American kids hate math.
Also, there are not millions of engineering jobs available to the millions of under & unemployed college grads and college students out there. Only 2% of the American population are employed as engineers. It also doesn't help that the well-publicized U.S. engineering shortage has been somewhat exaggerated.
Should the 2% of Americans who are engineers be the only workers to be paid a salary that is adjusted for inflation?! The wages of most types of jobs have remained stagnant for the past thirty years. A job that paid 30K a year 30 years ago probably still pays 30K a year today although that same job now requires a $100K+ bachelor's degree and the cost of food, rent/housing and gas is much higher than 30 years ago. Although only a tiny minority of Americans are fit to work as engineers, the American media and people who parrot it are proclaiming engineering to be the sacred lamb's blood that will save middle class America from the very real unholy plagues of deindustrialization, outsourcing, automation, normalization of sky high structural long-term unemployment, globalization, foreclosures, rising homelessness, government dependence, inescapable debt, inflation and long-term economic collapse. Do Americans really believe that a few complex fields reserved for the top 5% of the most intelligent and capable people will really save tens and tens of millions of Americans from the new post-industrial third world poverty we are beginning to experience here in the Banana Republic of America?!
Last edited by goldenchild08; 02-14-2012 at 04:23 PM..
You hit the nail on the head!!! I've also wondered the same thing. Do people honestly believe there are no engineers, computer scientists, nurses, accountants etc... out of work. It's like they think if you graduate with a "marketable" degree a job is magically waiting.
I've also heard that when a company puts out an opening for an accountant they get, "hundreds of applications". Also many engineers do not even have full time employment anymore. A lot work as contractors with no benefits but do get paid a good wage.
And your other point is also very precient. The fact that last I heard only about %30 of all people have a Bachelors or higher. That puts you in the top 3rd of all people in the U.S. in terms of education. If it still a struggle to earn a decent wage after that something is off.
Heck I know guys who came of age in the late 50's to early '70's without college degrees who will end up much better off than all accept the best positioned college grads of today. We've been on a slow decline for 30-40 years now and it's accelerated since the late 70's early 80's.
And if gas does go to $5.00 a gallon as some are predicting... All bets are off. That effects the price of everything. Trucks drive all the food and products to their destination.
Do people actually believe complex fields like engineering can absorb all the rampant unemployment in this country?
No, of course not.
Quote:
Originally Posted by goldenchild08
A job that paid 30K a year 30 years ago probably still pays 30K a year today although that same job now requires a $100K+ bachelor's degree and the cost of food, rent/housing and gas is much higher than 30 years ago.
Could you give an example? A job that paid 30k in 1982 but now requires a 100k degree and still pays 30k?
Quote:
Yeah, when I see people expressing themselves like this I too wonder about the quality of education in this country.
My son is an engineer with a master's degree. Even in this lousy employment market, he's been able to change jobs twice in the past four years, moving up both times. Engineering is a challenging course of study and it isn't for everyone. The math involved is a killer for most who change to a different field of study.
And there are some engineering specialties that are not in demand, but others are, particularly electrical and computer.
The world needs more engineers and physicians, fewer lawyers.
THere's a huge surplus of STEM degrees. The idea that we are somehow falling drastically short in training STEM grads is a perpetual myth sold by universities that want cheap post doc labor to churn out publications for grant money purposes and by companies that want to hire wave after wave of cheap and disposable permatemp scientists and engineers. We don't have a STEM training problem, we have a jobs supply problem. Hey, if society wants to continue to value advertising, accounting, and finance more than it does for new innovative technologies and life saving medicines, fine. Don't expect people to stay in STEM fields when they find out that working in many fields within STEM are completely unstable, low paying, and offer very little overall advancement in terms of income and the ability to save for retirement. Studying mathematics and science was the biggest mistake of my life.
You hit the nail on the head!!! I've also wondered the same thing. Do people honestly believe there are no engineers, computer scientists, nurses, accountants etc... out of work. It's like they think if you graduate with a "marketable" degree a job is magically waiting.
I've also heard that when a company puts out an opening for an accountant they get, "hundreds of applications". Also many engineers do not even have full time employment anymore. A lot work as contractors with no benefits but do get paid a good wage.
And your other point is also very precient. The fact that last I heard only about %30 of all people have a Bachelors or higher. That puts you in the top 3rd of all people in the U.S. in terms of education. If it still a struggle to earn a decent wage after that something is off.
Heck I know guys who came of age in the late 50's to early '70's without college degrees who will end up much better off than all accept the best positioned college grads of today. We've been on a slow decline for 30-40 years now and it's accelerated since the late 70's early 80's.
And if gas does go to $5.00 a gallon as some are predicting... All bets are off. That effects the price of everything. Trucks drive all the food and products to their destination.
Unfortunately the "best"/ worse is yet to come.
EXACTOMUNDO. People who have never worked in a STEM field and whom have been laid off don't understand what it has been like over the past 5 years for STEM workers. These days, many companies don't even hire permanent staff anymore, they simply hire wave after wave of temps. Many job listings for engineers and scientists are nothing but underpaying temp work that offers little or no health care benefits. Temp jobs make it impossible to own a home, start a family, or save for retirement because you never know when you will be unemployed or have to get up and move for a new job every 2 years.
Welcome to the new and improved USA where employers save tons of money by never having to pay for health care or retirement benefits by simply hiring permatemps.
My company has difficulties attracting/keeping good software developers, there is just so much opportunity out there that good people get poached by other companies. We try to do the same, its totally cutthroat out there for talent.
EXACTOMUNDO. People who have never worked in a STEM field and whom have been laid off don't understand what it has been like over the past 5 years for STEM workers. These days, many companies don't even hire permanent staff anymore, they simply hire wave after wave of temps. Many job listings for engineers and scientists are nothing but underpaying temp work that offers little or no health care benefits. Temp jobs make it impossible to own a home, start a family, or save for retirement because you never know when you will be unemployed or have to get up and move for a new job every 2 years.
Welcome to the new and improved USA where employers save tons of money by never having to pay for health care or retirement benefits by simply hiring permatemps.
I briefly worked as a "headhunter" or "executive recruiter" while out of work a few years ago. And the person who got me that job is still in that field for J&J. Human Resources, whatever. So yes I know this. You're correct. Came across plenty of engineers looking for full time work. They all had the same story... Contract ran out.
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