Young Americans Unable to Find Jobs: Specialty Degrees Needed for Future Employment
Fifty years ago, the average high school graduate was able to get a job in industry; many didn't continue to get a four year degree in college. Some leisurely worked in industry then decided to obtain a degree later. They were able to pay for it with saved earnings or support from spouses. In the 1970s a graduate course could run $100 a credit at a first tier university or Ivy. Nowadays, with inflation and the ballooning tuition charges, fees, books and decreased scholarship monies, $100 perhaps will buy used textbooks for one course.
There's been a paradigm shift. The country and economy are reeling. With the frenzy of job outsourcing to exponentially increase corporate profits, the employment picture had been growing dimmer in the early part of this decade. But in the last five years with the housing market debacle, the picture is grim and the supposed recovery questionable. For those graduates unable to afford untenable college costs or the ready credit to finance even a two year degree, the employment picture is tantamount to a big fat zero going circular.
According to a report culled from a Rutgers University study, only one in six graduates works full time. Few can afford their autonomy from Mom and Dad: three out of five live with parents or other relatives. Though a large majority of graduates questioned believe they need to further their education, about half are certain of their enrollment in the next few years. And this will be a problem for them because the prospects are few for those without a specialty or advanced degree, let alone no degree or any college prospects on the horizon.
Increasingly, high school graduates have sought college degrees understanding the necessity after going through the job interview process without one. Results from a national survey of high school graduates not in college full time have proven that a degree is vital to compete in the marketplace and have shown that the economic situation for those without college is blighted. The report from the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University which was released on Wednesday had tracked the non college bound high school graduate, a transient population with uncertain futures previously difficult to assess.
The report stated that these Americans, who graduated from high school just before the economy tanked and layoffs (2006-2008) started to rise, struggled economically. Sixty percent were employed, but the jobs were not paying particularly well. Of that group, 37 percent had full time employment and 23 percent were part timers and not because they were persons of leisure. They couldn't find full time jobs.
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