Comment by callmeed | Hacker News Reader

Comment by callmeed | Hacker News Reader

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> And yet, here we are across the board

This is your incorrect premise. Wages aren't low "across the board" and the job outlook isn't poor "across the board". They are low/poor for jobs that have high supply and/or low demand. What you've basically said is that the supply of various degree holders has remained the same. But that doesn't mean demand hasn't changed because of globalization/automation/[whatever]ation. You can call it a canard until you're blue in the face, but how do you argue with:

Unemployment for arts: 10%

Unemployment for engineering: 7%

Unemployment for medical/health services: 4% [0]

Also, see the recent "Downward Ramp" article on the NYT [1].

[0] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/19/unemployment-colleg...

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/11/opinion/the-downward-ramp....

EDIT: BTW, I'm not saying the student loan/debt issue is not a problem. I definitely agree that it is.

Elsewhere in this thread I've addressed this. I'm not convinced that a mismatch in supply of majors and demand for recent grads of those majors can account for much of the boomerang phenomena. It's far too prevalent among under-30 to be reduced to this.

Also, my use of across the board was probably inappropriate. I agree. I should have said in general instead. There are some fields, primarily STEM and the service industry with high wages and/or good job outlook, but for the other sectors, this is not the case at all.

That's fair. And you're probably correct that there's more to it.

Another issue could be our unwillingness to push young people towards trades that will be in demand for the foreseeable future.

I know plumbing and painting contractors who make six figures. Yet, I rarely hear anyone say "Hey, have you considered a career owning your own plumbing business". Instead, it's "Study what you love and rack up some debt."

Speaking of plumbers, an anecdote. I had to have a plumber at my house a few months ago and I flat asked him why I had to pay him so much.

He looked at me (I'm 30, he was in his 60s) and said, "because people your age don't want to become plumbers."

I really do think the community and technical college system should be better utilized and promoted, but I'm not going to blame four-year college degree students for economic problems well outside their control.

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