More Than Half Of Older High School Dropouts Not Employed Today

You know the old advice about staying in school so you can get a job? It's more true now than ever.

More than half of the high school dropouts in America above age 25 are currently out of work, according to The Wall Street Journal. Americans who didn't finish high school seem to be bearing the brunt of the country's unemployment crisis: About 1.8 million college graduates have found work since January 2010, the WSJ reports, but 128,000 high school dropouts have lost their jobs during the same period.

The data is indicative of a broader reality about the nation's slow climb back from the depths of recession. Unemployment is falling and business leaders seem increasingly optimistic about the country's economic direction, but for a wide swath of Americans -- those who can't afford rent, those who struggle to buy food, and those who lack the cash cushion to weather a financial emergency -- the recovery has not yet taken hold.

While Americans of every education level are struggling to find work, those who haven't graduated from college seem to be at a distinct disadvantage.

The unemployment rate for college graduates is just 4.2 percent, but the unemployment rate for high school graduates is 8.4 percent -- twice as high, and more closely matching the overall national jobless rate of 8.3 percent. The picture is even worse for high school dropouts, 13.1 percent of whom are out of work -- more than one in every eight.

At the same time, research indicates that once a person loses their job, their level of education may do little to help them get a new one. High school dropouts and advanced degree holders are equally at risk for long-term unemployment, according to a Pew Fiscal Analysis Initiative study published earlier this month.

The gradual erosion of manufacturing and other blue-collar jobs in the U.S. means that fewer and fewer opportunities exist for Americans who don't go on to higher education.

That's one of the reasons why high school drop outs are becoming increasingly living lives marked by deprivation. Research shows that students who come from impoverished backgrounds are more likely to drop out of school, and their lifelong earning power takes a serious hit as a result. High school dropouts stand to earn about $400,000 less over the next five decades than their peers who earned a diploma, and they're twice as likely to end up living in poverty as Americans who have completed high school.

Overall, the employment rate for young adults ages 18 to 24 is the lowest it's been in sixty years.

Also on HuffPost:

Comments

[DropoutTruancyP]

11:50 AM on 02/23/2012

The article did a great job of highlighting the magnitude and social cost of the truancy and dropout crisis in America. Regrettably, many readers will conclude from the piece that the situation in our most challenging public schools is too daunting to expect a remedy.

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We have found that at-risk children are not lost causes. With the proper support and guidance they can make choices that will enhance their quality of life and their ability to contribute rather than drain from society.

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Dallas, Texas
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[fortressfountain]

10:33 AM on 02/23/2012

Why bother staying in school? The unskilled jobs are increasing-too bad they want a PHD to work at a Donut shop.
This is another way for corporations to take over education. I think Dollar Tree is sponsoring some kind of GED training-for a way to get its hands into the public trough.

[VPerry24]

10:16 AM on 02/23/2012

In this cookoo world of today, there are no jobs for these people and yet I read headlines such as
they are ruining their career if they stay home with mommy and daddy! Beyond me!

[piceaglauca]

10:14 PM on 02/22/2012

Never mind 25, try 30 with a university degree. There is nothing out there. The ad is there but they just don't hire. Those that work have no plan to quit. Those that can retire just aren't retiring. There is no clear answer in this economy right now. One thing is sure, we are sure paying a lot of government people to talk and that is a lot of money.

[trekie70]

07:44 PM on 02/22/2012

"More than half of the high school dropouts in America above age 25 are currently out of work............"

Why is this fact news? Even in a good economy, you need to be able to read, write and be functional at basic math-HS dropouts are typically missing one or more of these skills. If I owned a business, I would hire such people as a last resort because I wouldn't get as much bang for my buck.

[22Keys]

01:37 PM on 02/22/2012

These greedy companies that ship manufacturing jobs overseas should be ashamed of themselves. They have left America's low IQ population with tough prospects for employment.

[catlover80]

04:14 PM on 02/22/2012

oh please, what does that have to do w/ these idi.o.t kids who drop out of H.S?? Give me a break.

And do you stop and wonder WHY these corporations send jobs overseas?? Personnel cost in the U.S. is very high thanks to federally mandated minimum wages, insurance, etc etc. Plus non-competitive corporate tax rates. so if you want to point the finger, point it at GOV'T.

[22Keys]

05:07 PM on 02/22/2012

These companies can: pay a liveable wage, pay for health insurance, pay Americans, and still earn a tidy profit.

[reader1]

06:02 PM on 02/22/2012

I thought in this Christian nation that you want for your brother what you want for yourself. have you ever gone to bed hungry, or listened to the sound of gun fire on the way to school? well consider yourself fortunate, however that is not the case for millions of kids in this country. i know you find this hard to believe but it's true. The government is we the people, remember that. so that means we are the problem, and what is the main suggestion, cut taxes, cut spending, cut throats. this is why we are where we are 2012. there are solutions, folks should pay their own way, but the field must be leveled! I respectfully disagree with you!

[Ansdlmol]

06:06 PM on 02/22/2012

You assume all high school dropouts have low IQs. Not so. There is however a solution for some of these people. If they have the fortitude and the desire to get out of the rut they are in they can volunteer to join the US army where they can learn a skill they can transfer into civilian life. During their time in the service they can also learn a little discipline that probably won't go amiss either.

[22Keys]

07:09 PM on 02/22/2012

Not all people who are dropouts have low IQ, however most people with low IQ are dropouts.

[piceaglauca]

10:17 PM on 02/22/2012

One thing about the military and correct me if I'm wrong when you do a tour you get a cash lump sum and this is above your base pay, rank, and time in. If you do a second tour you get a second lump sum. I understand it is a large amount.

[4eva]

12:17 PM on 02/22/2012

If you can't even be bothered to show up for a FREE education, that doesn't inspire confidence in employers.

[reader1]

06:04 PM on 02/22/2012

Education is not free. Remember, your tax dollars pay for education!

[4eva]

07:43 PM on 02/22/2012

It's free to the student

[woopeytd]

09:05 AM on 02/22/2012

The days of getting a degree just for the sake of it are over..you have got to be strategic..health care, energy and infrastructure..thats the future.. apple will never ship ur civil engineering job overseas when they are refurbishing that old crumbling bridge..neither will that oil refinery/ gas plant engineering job...technology is good but you never know when the 1%%ers will feel like shipping your job to india to save costs...

[Richard Bartholomew]

10:56 AM on 02/22/2012

'... apple will never ship ur civil engineering job overseas when they are refurbishing that old crumbling bridge ...'

That's why God created H-1B visas.

[Enid]

12:05 PM on 02/22/2012

regarding bridges
new San Francisco Bay bridge steel and fabrication / engineering thanks to CHINA.

[Gilbert Albright]

08:32 AM on 02/22/2012

This is the Number One reason for high Minority Unemployment. Minorities drop out of school at astoundingly high rates.

As with most of their problems, it is SELF INFLICTED! Yet they blame their problems on everybody but themselves. Nothing forces them the drop out of school.

Black And Brown Cultures don't place an emphasis on education and upward mobility. Look at Jewish and Asian Cultures which puts great emphasis on eduction and how successful they are.

Nothing will change until the Culture of Minority Groups changes.

[timbeaux]

11:46 AM on 02/22/2012

Sweeping generalizations, although there's no question that large numbers of kids failing to graduate from high school contributes to the cycle of poverty in the Black community. But that's partly due to poverty and to the very high ratio of one-parent families. The biggest variable in a kid's educational experience is parental participation, and parents are less likely to be able to participate if they're working full time and then some, as many single mothers do, just to pay the rent and put food on the table.

[Gilbert Albright]

02:10 PM on 02/22/2012

Don't give me that poor and lack of parenting crap! I grew up poor and my father was an alcoholic who ignored us, and my mother was like a house maid and paid no attention to us. At times we had no food in the house, no heat, nothing for Christmas, I wore my cousins hand me down clothes, no lunch money for school lunch, we lived in a rental unit that had mice and cockroaches, etc.

Me and my brother both graduated from High School, yet my 3 stupid and lazy Sisters all dropped out. We all went to the same schools had some of the same teachers, but all my sister did was blame everything on the teacher and claim the teacher didn't like them.

It all about the person, not the conditions. The problem is most Minorities are like my Sisters.

[Enid]

12:07 PM on 02/22/2012

resources money support are not everyones fortune.

[John Goucho]

04:38 AM on 02/22/2012

This has been the trend for over 30 years and the true source of economic disparity in the country not the class warfare being promoted today. The truly UGLY truth is that BA+ represents 27% of the country and High School and below is over 1/3. Over the last 30 years, wages of HS grads versus College grads has gone from a 25% difference to over 80% difference. Low skilled workers do not have high economic value no matter the work ethic.

The ability of a country to support the poorest 10% is essential, however, you cannot have 27% support the rest.

Without real education reform that results in skilling up 2/3 of the country we will continue to have economic dislocation. This doesn't even touch the fact that much of the top 27% lack sufficient skills to be in high value jobs

[kevinjacoby]

03:31 AM on 02/22/2012

However, we should expect further worsening on joblessness in the country in the next quarter because of political anxieties in the Middle East, check out an article called High Speed Universities for relation between a degree and job and the pay rate.

[Kai-HK]

12:48 AM on 02/22/2012

Great News! Good to see people being punished for their bad life decisions. This is the way that it should be. I hope this provides a cautionary example to others thinking of doing the same.

The key is to make sure that those productive and hard working graduates are not forced to take care of these lazy, unmotivated slackers. Let them enjoy the fruits of their laziness.

Kai

[Pavane]

02:29 AM on 02/22/2012

Kai, you have an ugly nature. Your apparent joy in seeing people punished is a bit twisted. Especially since you have no knowledge of the individual reasons - perhaps tragedies or illness - that caused a person to drop out of High School.

[Kai-HK]

02:42 AM on 02/22/2012

Pavane:

I can understand why you feel the way you do.

I do not enjoy seeing people punished for the sake of punishment, I enjoy seeing free-market forces reward hard work and studying and punish laziness and not studying.

Yeah…agree with you that there are a myriad of reasons why people drop out of school….none of them are due to people who have stayed in and worked hard to graduate and go onto bigger and better things…and they should not now be forced to then turn around and take care of those who opted not to graduate for whatever reason.

The fairest approach is to let markets determine the incentives and punishment for those decisions. That is what is happening and I find it heartening….and a vindication of the hard work that many young people have put into their studies to get ahead. Congratulations to them.

tragedies and illness? hahahahaha....yeah that is the major driver of drop outs

Kai

[SoCalifTeacher]

10:16 AM on 02/22/2012

They should also be denied any government welfare programs...for themselves or any children they produce.

[Pavane]

11:58 AM on 02/22/2012

You want to see what this produces? Look at any third world country. How exciting.

[Kai-HK]

10:06 PM on 02/22/2012

Agreed.

[grod805]

12:39 AM on 02/22/2012

What's the point either way. Higher Education is not worth it.

I'm $30,000 in debt but most jobs out there that are hiring don't require a college degree. The going wage is $12-$15 an hour. I know high school drop outs making that much. Which means that they haven't lost 4 years of work (like I have by going to college) and they aren't in debt to begin with.

College was a great experience but strictly talking about money here, it doesn't make sense. Colleges lie when they tell you starting salary for people with your major is $50K. It makes me laugh now looking at those numbers, its a sham.

[Linda in NJ]

02:19 AM on 02/22/2012

Really, I agree. It just says these college grads are employed, but not where, or how much their making. I am working in a supermarket in the seafood dept. with 3 college grads. And believe me they are not making 12 to 15 bucks an hour. Starting at 8 bucks. They owe as much for those worthless degrees as I do on my mortgage.....

[Pavane]

02:36 AM on 02/22/2012

I feel for you, grod. It's hard to have that much debt. Nevertheless, there will be times in your life you are thankful you have that degree.

[Geegs]

12:12 AM on 02/22/2012

There is obviously a serious problem in this country, and we need to get the source of the problem if we hope to ever help young people to [at least] finish high school. I remember GWB joking while holding the office of the president that he was a "C" student! That was disgraceful -- the president at that time was proud of his lack of respect for education! Personally, I would like to see legislation requiring students to complete high school. The future of this nation depends upon a well educated population.

[Yates]

11:53 PM on 02/21/2012

everyone in these comments seem to be blaming the drop-outs for dropping out. every kid that drops out is a failure of the school, the system and the community. the word lazy is being thrown around, and thats ignorant at best, like calling all welfare recipients lazy or anyone who gets an abortion lazy or weak. there are myriad reasons to drop out, many times theres no other option. im just amazed by all the "well what did they expect" comments. get a clue.

[formontoya]

08:06 AM on 02/22/2012

And what I get tired of is people that let the excuses play out and then want everyone to help the poor soul out...as you stated, "what do they expect?" One does nothing and one gets nothing in return...simple.

[Yates]

03:48 PM on 02/22/2012

you don't know what you're talking about. in some cases you might be right, but you can't just generalize and pretend every dropout is a lazy worthless louse that "does nothing" and so should get nothing return. there r countless reasons someone might drop out, or be forced to drop out. for many, it makes little difference, they go right to college after they get their GED. but the "dropout"
label continues to hurt their chances of employment.

your comment barely made sense, but from what did make sense, you don't know what you're talking about.