College Isn't the Easy Ticket

    I've been on this kick for a long time: education, unlike what Robert Reich and some other people preach, isn't the solution for people who are trying to figure out how to contend with the economic future--it's about corporate power and the battering of peoples' standard of living, something getting another degree won't solve.

    Our friends at the Economic Policy Institute point to a sliver of this issue with a glimpse at the prospects facing young college graduates:

The labor market for young college graduates, those ages 25 to 35, is slowly improving, but remains much weaker than before the last recession in 2001. It has been 20 years since young college graduates have experienced employment rates as low as those experienced in the last five years.

These well-schooled individuals—possessing at least a bachelor's degree, and in some cases, an advanced degree—would be expected to fare better than those without college degrees because demand for their skills should insulate them from labor market fluctuations. However, employment trends still indicate that young college graduates have not returned to the wage levels or employment rates at the start of the recession.

The real hourly wages of young college graduates have picked up slightly over the last year after declines for three years in a row. Hourly wages in 2005 were $23.10, up from $23.03 in 2004, but still below the level of $23.77 in 2001

    See the rest of this here.

 

Comments

[ElanaDMI]

I also hear that the gap in pay between someone in their twenties and someone in their fifties is greater now than before.

The fact that young people are forced to work permalance and don't get health coverage is a huge part of this problem.

[D Flinchum]

More bad news for young college graduates regarding S 2611 that was passed last week with the help of Democratic Senators, the constant friends of the working man and woman, who provided 38 of the 62 votes. Most "liberals" think that this bill deals with low-skilled workers and that it will not affect them and their children. Some supporters of this bill are in for a rude awakening when the dust settles if anything like this bill is actually passed. By then it will be too late.

Information from Rob at ZaZona

* H-1B: Increase the annual cap of 65,000 to 115,000, automatically increase the new cap by 20 percent each year the cap is hit, and creates a new exemption to the cap for anyone who has an "advanced degree in science, technology, engineering, or math". H-1B affects workers such as computer
programmers, engineers, scientists, school teachers, nurses, accountants, and fashion models.

H-1B workers are eligible for green cards and would be allowed to stay and work in the United States for as long as it takes to process the green card application.

* F-4 Visas: This new visa allows foreign students to work as they go to school, and then to look for work for up to one year after graduating. They are put on a fast track to a Green Card if they do find work, so they don't even have to get an H-1B first.

In today's competitive job market U.S. college students depend on internships to get the experience to land a job when they graduate. The F-4 visa puts U.S. students in direct competition for internships with foreign students. U.S. students who depend on internships to earn money while they go to school will find that these once cherished opportunities are evaporating. This will be another good reason for U.S. students to avoid technical and science degree programs and it will contribute to the erosion
of our technological infrastructure.