Significant Proportion Of College Graduates Work Low-Skill Jobs

Approximately one-third of college graduates between the ages of 25 and 29 work low-skilled jobs, according to the Economist.

The U.S. trails Spain and Canada in terms of percentage of young adults who work in low-skilled areas -- in Spain, nearly 45 percent of young adults hold lower-skilled jobs.

In related news, a recent report from ABC7 Chicago detailed how more college graduates were on the hunt for blue-collar jobs, including Sarah Joy Liles, who gave up teaching art to become a pipefitter.

WATCH:

Comments

[ECBA88]

07:22 PM on 09/12/2010

I got my degree for its intellectual value, its ability to shoo me into a job was secondary. A liberal arts degree is worth plenty if the person behind it is smart, hard working, motivated, personable and a fast learner.

I've been working in a supermarket deli for a few months since graduation, but real jobs are starting to call me back. All these college graduates who think their BA is gonna do the work for them and then complain when it doesn't should have sucked it up and majored in something directly marketable. I'm happy with my four years studying Anthropology, and once I get my resume built a little, the critical analysis skills and problem solving will show their value because I can point to it directly.

Most colleges don't ask that much to graduate. It's what you do with yourself that matters.

[ChayilGirl]

03:45 PM on 09/11/2010

When I was an administrative assistant in HR, my boss the HR VP could not work a fax machine. She also could not create reports, return phone calls, order lunch, respond to emails, or make copies. She did not schedule her own meetings, nor could she recall employee status changes that required her signature. She had no personable skills and she did not know how to talk to people. But she had a bachelors and a Master's in HR. I did not have a degree, but I did alot of her work while making 1/6th of her pay. She had 2 and couldn't figure out why a turned off copier could not make copies. What I did was FAR from low skilled. It doesn't take much skills to come to work, sign papers, take a 2hr lunch, then call me and say you are going to work from home - all the while telling me that you need a report by 4pm sent to the Pres and to send it from your email.

[OldTulsan]

05:28 PM on 09/10/2010

http://finance.yahoo.com/college-education/article/109946/college-big-investment-paltry-return?mod=edu-continuing_education
college-big-investment-paltry-return: Personal Finance News from Yahoo!...

"College: Big Investment, Paltry Return

by Francesca Di Meglio
Monday, June 28, 2010

provided by
bw_124x26.gif

The value of a college degree is a middle-class article of faith. But
exclusive new research suggests it may be far less than previously
thought.

If there's one truism that goes virtually unchallenged these days,
it's that a college degree has great value. Beyond the great books,
beyond the critical reasoning skills, and beyond the experience
itself, there's another way that a college degree has value: Over the
course of a working life, college graduates earn more than high school
graduates. Over the past decade, research estimates have pegged that
figure at $900,00, $1.2 million, and $1.6 million.

But new research suggests that the monetary value of a college degree
may be vastly overblown..."

[bleubunny]

05:23 AM on 09/11/2010

I 100% agree with that. Everyone keeps telling us a college degree earns you more money. I have yet to see my college degree earn me what I would consider a decent living wage.

[erik59]

09:00 AM on 09/11/2010

What's your degree in? The important point in that article (which isn't alluded to in the title) is that there are economically valuable degrees and economically worthless degrees. If you have a degree in an engineering field, you're far more likely to have a better ROI whereas a degree in, say, art history isn't likely to get you very far in the work world.

[vargoz1]

07:41 PM on 09/11/2010

i studied engineering and everyone that graduated in my major had a 100% job acceptance rate. anyone can graduate college, but the difference is whether you take the hard road or the easy one.

[MMRDO]

04:50 PM on 09/10/2010

Not Fort Schuyler grads...

[SF TKF]

11:36 AM on 09/10/2010

Not surprising. We’ve sold everyone the false promise of upward mobility via college education. But a liberal arts education isn’t for everyone, and many jobs currently requiring a college degree clearly don’t really need one. Many blue collar jobs pay as well (or better!) than white collar ones. Many of my friends figured this out after shelling out tens of thousands of dollars for degrees they don’t actually need.

[OldTulsan]

05:31 PM on 09/10/2010

The electrician who did the wiring on our kitchen remodel had a PhD in Electrical Engineering and was a manager at Philco-Ford, a NASA contractor.

He decided one day that he would be happier as an electrician, and would have more time for family and his R/C airplanes.

[NerdyStudent]

06:24 PM on 09/11/2010

Some of us liberal arts students who grew up on liberal arts salaries (parents who were school teachers) don't find the lifestyle too bad...I don't think I'd want a non-english major teaching me Shakespeare, nor do I think a minister should be teaching American history...

[LightShadow62]

11:14 AM on 09/10/2010

Is it that our graduates are under employed or that we have too many going to college?

Think about it.

The majority of jobs the keep society running do not require a college education yet according to the 'common wisdom' EVERYBODY should have a college education.
At the end of the day it is just a marketing gimmick.

[Adam Warrenchak]

07:47 PM on 09/10/2010

colleges, just like everything else in this country, are businesses that will say and do anything to keep the flow of money coming their way. i dont think college is necessary at all, you want to learn to do something... go follow someone who is already doing it. unfortunately it took me 3 years of college to figure this out so with one more year to go ill finish up and i already have a job so im gooodddddd. but best of luck to everyone else

[vargoz1]

07:46 PM on 09/11/2010

thats because we got into the mindset that as long as you graduate from college you will get a good paying job, but because so many people are attending those jobs are being taken up. the problem is that the majority are graduating with liberal arts degrees when the market is demanding technical major graduates.

[comicpro]

10:34 AM on 09/10/2010

Its all about the reality of what is considered worth now. is it "worth" $100K (low side) in debt for a degree where you may not be able to recoup what you paid plus live and be a productive member of our service economy. You have to "buy stuff" after you graduate or maybe even go to grad school and add MORE DEBT! Our education system is no longer in sync with our work system. The demands for a "piece of paper" have sent many people to the poor house under the influence of societal need. I got lucky and paid not ONE CENT for my undergrad and grad school. Thanks to the Air Force and the GI Bill I have a wonderful job,a home that was paid and funded by the VA and now that is paid off completely. I do count my blessings every day.

[Ramesh Krishnan]

10:29 AM on 09/10/2010

Liberal arts is good to study if you are in line for a fat inheritance

[SF TKF]

11:38 AM on 09/10/2010

Not a bad thing if you're going on to a job that requires a grad degree either (like law). My philosophy degree is standing me in good stead in the job market, if only because it taught me to THINK.

[vargoz1]

07:25 PM on 09/11/2010

engineering taught me to think as well

[cgeorgan]

09:57 AM on 09/10/2010

PS - just having the diploma is not enough.  It has to mean something - i.e. you've accomplished something at college other than merely getting the piece of paper.

[Vendetta24]

07:26 AM on 09/10/2010

That's because a B.A. in Political Science won't take you to far!

[MaryMay]

08:21 AM on 09/10/2010

Which is why so many are entering grad school to get an M.A. in Political Science or Art History (my personal favorite in terms of "What were you thinking!?") In reality, they end up with more debt and their job prospects are no brighter.

[vargoz1]

08:04 PM on 09/11/2010

"why try, go poli sci" was a big motto of my fellow poli sci majors and they are hurting right now trying to find a job.

[vargoz1]

07:24 PM on 09/11/2010

thats so true. unless you have a rotc scholarship or are just going to work in the family business, it doesnt help to get a poli sci major.

[MuchMadness]

01:31 AM on 09/10/2010

The description "low-skilled" comes from the article in "The Economist" magazine from Britain.
So, is the magazine being snooty, and is what the magazine regards as low-skilled the same as what Americans call "blue collar"?

It does seem that in both nations there is a tendency among the upper classes to disparage jobs that they really don't know anything about. This tendency appears on both the political left and the political right.

[Blow In]

07:43 AM on 09/10/2010

Good point, Conversely I have found that conscientious managers don't disparage conscientious workers, and visa versa.

The jobs shown in the video are not low skilled.

[greatbubba]

01:23 AM on 09/10/2010

I regret going to college I should have stuck with a trade school, Either Network Administrator, Electrician

[vargoz1]

08:05 PM on 09/11/2010

or gone to college and did engineering

[Myshkin57]

10:21 PM on 09/11/2010

I'm happy you're happy with your engineering degree, but I've read plenty of stories about unemployed engineers and met a few myself. There are only so many engineering jobs out there, so telling everyone they should have gone into engineering is neither helpful nor realistic.

[AAandMad]

01:16 AM on 09/10/2010

THIS artical shows the true problem in our nation since when was sitting behind a desk on your butt more skilled then say working at a water treament plan and out of the 2 who saves more lives I mean lets face it everyone talks of a 2 class system but they think of it as money but it is more of I must be smarter then you because...


I really think more people who go to collage think the rest of the world is freeze dried while they are in school ..to call anyone low skilled is a insult and really should not be a term used,

[erik59]

08:53 AM on 09/11/2010

To use your water treatment plant example, how about the engineer sitting at his desk who designed that plant (and say, 10 others)? It seems to me that he is saving more lives than any single employee at the plant. Not to say that the tech working at the plant is in any worse of a person for his job, but neither can you say that the engineer is worse.

[AAandMad]

09:15 AM on 09/12/2010

BUT someone has to build the plant to begin with and someone has to keep it clean and in working order my point isnt the engineer isnt of value it is that one hand isnt of more value then the other that engineer still has to eat and that means someone needs to pick he food to send to the store .

[corwin]

08:26 PM on 09/12/2010

Read this carefully.R#ality.What a concept.
Do you think your finding an evaluation harsh ,means it's necessarily an insult?If I write a patient is obese in the chart,am I insulting them?Yours is not a mature/realistic attitude

[Martin Rheaume]

12:44 AM on 09/10/2010

After working as a librarian for 3 years, I'm strongly considering attending classes at a community college to learn a trade. Not only because tangible skills are in higher demand, but because I believe it will be more intellectually stimulating. I was inspired by the book Shop Class as Soulcraft, http://www.amazon.com/Shop-Class-Soulcraft-Inquiry-Value/dp/1594202230 The basic premise is that the trades are more intellectually demanding than most white collar work, which has become frustrating and mind numbingly repetitive.

[Over40]

04:09 AM on 09/10/2010

Interesting, ironic and probably true.

[Fabini]

09:13 AM on 09/10/2010

You are referring to the world of white-collar staff. A true pit of human devolution.

[EverIconoclast]

12:34 AM on 09/10/2010

They are the bottom 1sigma of the college population ?