Younger Women Heading To School Instead Of To The Labor Force

The New York Times:

Workers are dropping out of the labor force in droves, and they are mostly women. In fact, many are young women. But they are not dropping out forever; instead, these young women seem to be postponing their working lives to get more education. There are now -- for the first time in three decades -- more young women in school than in the work force.

Read the whole story: The New York Times

Comments

[DeuxExMachina]

06:57 AM on 01/03/2012

Better stay in college in these recessionary times. Also better than hanging around men who are player drones and ending up in the labor ward as a potential single mother.

[am10]

02:11 PM on 01/01/2012

Is this anything new? I graduated college in the early 90s when there was a recession and tons of people - male and female - were staying in or going back to school rather than try and enter the workforce. I could shoot off the names of twenty people who went to law school rather than get a job.

[Soft Robot]

04:54 PM on 12/30/2011

So in 4 years will be hearing from a new crop of people screaming about their college loans and how they can't get a job in pre Sumerian archeology?

[Ariel Bonzai]

11:29 PM on 12/30/2011

Archeology and humanities were pretty much discontinued long ago. No one cares about the progress and beauty of human beings anymore. $ is all that matters.

[corwin]

03:50 PM on 01/02/2012

Diffidently, I have to inform you of some things.
1)archeology and the humanities are still active.(Where do you think McDonald's gets is 'counter force"
2) It's not the $ that matters as much as the knowledge.Now,some of my best friends were liberal arts students.and ,a few had trusts. (They're the ones who are OK.)But,no one claimed they were intellectually rigorous. That makes it tough to get employed

[banana republican]

08:08 PM on 12/29/2011

This made me wonder: there's no prospects for a big surge in the demand for college educated job applicants - if anything, we need to focus on restoring manufacturing jobs. And there's a good chance these people are taking out loans to pay for the education. So there's a high probablility that these loans will become an incredible burden on them when they attempt to rejoin the labor force. They may even default. So aren't the banks making bad loans and shouldn't the government step in to regulate? (A school loan bubble?)

[LATEACHER1X]

01:31 AM on 12/31/2011

banana republic, you ain't lying.

[quicks9]

03:09 PM on 12/29/2011

please somebody pay for me to be a full time student,. If you have no job skills at all be an occupier, and please don't blame the schools for raising the cost even with their tax exempt statist. blame the borrower and not the lender

[Ariel Bonzai]

11:18 PM on 12/30/2011

As opposed to getting welfare for babies and section 8 housing to keep them in?i am troubled by your attitude. These girls believe that college will improve their lives. We tell them this as soon as the can speak, and the pell grant has been available for this very reason. It's not their fault the economy is crap and education is a new industry for fat cats who cry, " ohhh, I need a tax break! can't afford health care for my employees and if I don't take over the world I will be the laughing stock at the club. Boohoo!
Give me a break. What!? Only spoiled rich kids deserve Ann education? That's tge most unamerican attitude I have ever he countered. For shame.

[fortressfountain]

12:59 PM on 12/29/2011

Just curious as to what happened to all of the men? This housing crisis caused lots of construction workers to loose their jobs and they cannot all be landscape gardeners in the winter?
Are they some of the unemployed who are not counted and have dropped off of the face of the earth?
Maybe lots are robbing garages and stores and do not consider themselves unemployed.

[loki]

12:51 PM on 12/29/2011

then they can stay in the slave labor world for the rest of their lives to pay off their student loans. How nice. But I guess its an option to keep from starving, like joining the military these days is.

[fortressfountain]

12:16 PM on 12/29/2011

I heard through the grapevine a lot of Americans are wising up-lots will be headed to colleges in Canada. Cheaper tuition and none of the sub-prime loans being offered in the USA.

[Yam716]

12:19 PM on 12/29/2011

I was recently in EU and met a few americans enrolled in the university there and they said their tuition is the same or cheaper there than had they chosen to stay here in the states. I wish when I was in college, I'd thought that big! Will encourage my future children to go abroad as early as possible.

[Ariel Bonzai]

11:20 PM on 12/30/2011

I predict in ten years we will see illegal immigration issues making headlines in Canada and south America as people here flee for better opportunities, health care, jobs and housing.

[Kahill]

10:56 AM on 12/29/2011

Not surprised. In most of the Business classes I teach at a local University, women outnumber the men by at least 2 to 1. Bound to have some kind of impact in the business world, and in the social world, in the years to come!

[Ariel Bonzai]

11:21 PM on 12/30/2011

That's the most hopeful thing I have read in HP in a long time.

[frank day]

10:33 AM on 12/29/2011

Try this, the next time you're eating out ask your waiter/waitress about their education

or career goals.

You'll be shocked to find out how many have degrees, even advanced degrees.

[bipolarbears60]

03:05 PM on 12/29/2011

I know. Then I feel like that 20% tip just isn't enough.

[ambrecel]

10:28 AM on 12/29/2011

Education is never a bad thing, these women could create industry and jobs when finished.

[frank day]

10:34 AM on 12/29/2011

It is a bad thing if you end up $100,000 in debt and working for $9 an hour.

[ambrecel]

10:48 AM on 12/29/2011

Good point.

[Yam716]

12:11 PM on 12/29/2011

I think the answer is for more women to major in math and science disciplines. Everyone has a business degree.

[LATEACHER1X]

01:36 AM on 12/31/2011

You don't necessarily need the degree.