Americans without degrees are having one of the best job markets in years | Hacker News Reader

Americans without degrees are having one of the best job markets in years

wsj.com

The real story is about lifetime earnings and related outcomes in pension/Roth/401k and in health benefits.

Not that there's nothing here: Degree is over-valued as a life goal in a time where we no longer really value tertiary education the way we should, and charge the kind of for-profit costs (and loan tail) to get one.

Many non-degree career paths incur significant OHS risk and limits to your work life as a fit adult. Some degree paths to too: Physiotherapists cannot go on doing that kind of body-manipulation work forever without an effect on themselves, but if you plot lifetime earnings in medical against construction labour, it gets complicated fast.

Seems like a good recipe for a long form post.

> Degree is over-valued as a life goal in a time where we no longer really value tertiary education the way we should

What does “the way that we should” mean here? Are you disagreeing with the free market valuation of a good? If not the equilibrium created by supply and demand, what do you propose instead?

> Physiotherapists cannot go on doing that kind of body-manipulation work forever without an effect on themselves

Physiotherapists don't usually manipulate patients, you're probably thinking of chiropractors. Even then, the amount of physical strain the manipulation puts on their body is minimal and can be adapted to.

> you're probably thinking of chiropractors. Even then, the amount of physical strain the manipulation puts on their body is minimal and can be adapted to.

True.

By way of comparison it is much more damaging on your body to get your neck broken by a fake doctor than it is to be a fake doctor who breaks people's necks for a living.

I'm not talking about chiropractors. Physiotherapists I see, and have seen regularly for over 15 years all say the work includes physically demanding postural mechanics helping clients.

They are probably older physiotherapists, or you have particular issues that requires it (parastesias, displaced muscles or ligaments, dropping organs). Modern physiotherapy tries to limit body manipulation to a minimum and will always prefer to give you exercises if possible (sources: 5 of my cousins are physiotherapists, those who couldn't become doctor mostly)

Non-paywalled link

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/economy/americans-without-co...

As an american with a degree and years of experience and even a PhD, it is hard to move jobs.

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