Unemployment numbers optimistic while many Americans not "gainfully" employed - Page 2
These people simply can't afford to quit working and get better training and/or education so they are qualified to search for better paying employment. They are trapped in their current position by the very real and immediate need to put food on the table. Simply put, most Americans would rather work at a dead end job making something, rather than not working at all and risk being homeless.The intrusive, judgmental, bureaucratic welfare system in America is a non-choice for many who see it as state control over the intimacy and sanctity that was once the American family.
There has been a move by the Obama administration to regulate and rectify one finite aspect that plagues the young portion of the American workforce. In June of last year legislation was introduced to avail more oversight on the for-profit career preparatory programs to yield more gainful employment. This is meant to force the flourishing "online" colleges and trade schools to follow through with "as advertised" job placement which is "gainful". According to an article in the Washington Post , "the rule effectively would shut down for-profit programs that repeatedly fail to show, through certain measures, that graduates are earning enough to pay down the loans taken out to attend those programs."
As is the case with many Americans, students often graduate from these programs with far too much debt and far too little earning power. The fact of the matter is that this legislation isn't really about helping young workers attain meaningful and impacting employment, it is simply about money. For-profit schools receive about $1 of every $4 spent on federal Pell grants for students in financial need. That totaled more than $7 billion in the last school year - up from nearly $1 billion a decade earlier.
The debt that is accumulated by these "employed" people can be staggering; In relative terms. A $40,000 debt may not seem insurmountable. But one must remember to put it into context. It is the fact that most of this debt belongs to student loans that were lent out by companies like Fanny Mae. According to a USA Today article , the average debt per person in America is approximately $30,000. Now if you are a person making $70-$80,000 per year and have no children or older parents to care for, then this is a debt that you can manage through structuring the payments so that you pay a certain percentage on the interest and some on the principle. Relatively speaking you can do this with little difficulty and in a timely manner.
However, if you are making less than $20,000 a year as roughly 60 million Americans are, (and about 100 million Americans are earning less than $40,000 per year) and you have acquired $30,000 in debt, you will most likely never be able to pay the debt off. Just on the interest alone you will be required to pay, on average, 3/4 or 75% of the $30,000 in interest alone, which brings the total to $52,500 you have to pay back to the bank. In real day to day terms, you will most likely make an effort to pay out of obligation and pride. There is a good chance that you will soon be faced with a choice
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