Excellent!
Posted on 09/07/2006 6:26:29 AM PDT by Hydroshock
Details Buried Deep In Census Bureau Data Show A Sustained Drop In Earnings For 25- To 34-year-Old Grads, To Their Lowest Level Since 1997 Email This Story | Print This Story
Subscribe to BusinessWeek Young college grads are taking it on the chin. That's what the new data from the government show -- and it's not a pretty sight.
On Tuesday, Aug. 29, the statisticians at the Census Bureau released the latest numbers on income and poverty, for 2005. There were plenty of meaty figures, both good and bad, to chew on. On the good news side, median household income rose by 1.1%, adjusted for inflation, the first such gain since 1999. The poverty rate dipped a bit, from 12.7% to 12.6%.
On the bad news side, real median earnings of full-time workers declined, with the earnings of men dropping to the lowest level since 1997. And income inequality widened a bit, with the top 20% of households getting more than 50% of all the income.
TOUGH SQUEEZE.
Perhaps the most distressing figure was one buried deep inside the detailed tables. It turns out that the median earnings of young college grads, adjusted for inflation, fell by an astonishing 3.3% in 2005. That's on top of similar declines in 2004 and 2003. All told, the earnings of young college grads are down by almost 8% since 2002. [For a related chart, see BusinessWeek.com, 8/29/06, "Young College Grads in Free Fall."]
By young college grads, we mean full-time workers between the ages of 25 and 34, with a B.A. but no advanced degree. These are people who first entered the workforce during the past 10 to 12 years, some during the boom, some during the early years of the bust. What they've experienced over the past several years is an unrelenting downdraft in wages, probably the first sustained decline for college grads since the 1970s.
What's more, many of them have also been stuck on the wrong side of the housing boom. Just coming out of college, they didn't have the savings or the income to buy a house. And with home prices rising faster than their incomes, it's been very hard for them to catch up.
There are signs that the market for the latest crop of graduates coming out of college has improved a bit. But for the group just before them, it's a real rough ride.
"But, at least locally, there have been a glut of engineering grads, "
Is it possible that the glut of engineering grads is caused by the surplus in India? Why pay a local $60k when you can pay a foreign national $20k, right?
And then we can all come to FR and bemoan the lack of students going into hard science, and our dependence on foreign nationals for critical defense components.
There are a lot of excellent colleges and excellent young people too.
Of course, my employer was the U.S. Army and everything I needed to know, they taught me before turning me loose.
What kind of job and salary can a new graduate with a bachelor's in math and no experience get today?
"There are a lot of excellent colleges and excellent young people too."
Shhhhh...
That's not the FR party line. You've been here long enough, you should know:
- American workers are lazy. If you don't own a business, you're a slacker. Your pay should reflect that.
- American kids are stupid and lazy. We want to ship all our jobs to India and China to teach them a lesson.
- The standard of living in America is way too high. Unless or until we can lower it to the level of the Chinese, Americans deserve our scorn. Why should American workers have preferential treatment to those in other countries?!
- We are all patriotic. We love those young Americans protecting our hind ends, and our business interests. We don't have any scorn for those fine young Americans until they come home to work for us.
There.
Its not bad a bad degree, but could I do it over again, I'd go Computer Engineering or EE+minor in CS.
Excellent point. And, at least for now, 20K goes a long way in India. I hadn't thought of India in reference to our engineering grads. Plus - add the outsourcing of local industry work in this area. Yeah, it makes perfect sense. At one time, local engineering grads could step happily into any engineering job locally and at a premium, so happy was local industry to have young grads seek out the rural area. And yes, 60K was the going rate a few years ago!
Thanks.
There is no mention here about how 12-25 million illegal aliens diluting this labor pool is depressing wages at most levels except the top layers.
As a history graduate wanting to be a teacher, I am jealous.
But, each person has their own priorities.
I have looked and looked at what jobs pay the most, and I really don't like any of them enough to change paths.
I love teaching (am student teaching now). If I just can't survive, I will go back to school and do my darndest to find something I like that pays a lot more, but only in that situation.
I considered becoming a meteorologist. But, there was a problem. I hate math.
Math is the major stumbling block for most folks who don't go into hard science.
I just found it frustrating, and it was my hardest subject. It was not easy, and though I do a lot of things that are hard (no slacker here), I just was too frustrated to continue.
You forgot this one.
You must drive a Jap car cause American cars break down all the time.
I am 26 with a B.S. in Chemistry (graduated in 2001) and its been very difficult finding a real full time job. For the past 4 years (spent the first year after college at a grad school) I have worked various R&D temp jobs.
"Math is the major stumbling block for most folks who don't go into hard science. "
C'mon. First of all, your unfortunate deficiency doesn't translate to everyone. Secondly, there is being good at math, and being compentent. Two distinctly different qualifications. Many science related degrees merely require competence. Competence in math can be attained by almost anyone with the appropriate motivation and attitude.
Math isn't that hard. There are lots of kids who are competent, even good at math, who go into something other than science because they want a job when they graduate.
"You must drive a Jap car cause American cars break down all the time."
Yep. That wasn't a comprehensive list, and I'm sure there are people reading these posts thinking: "Yeah, that's right, so?"
This can't be true...FReepers constantly remind themselves that the reason grads can't get jobs is b/c they don't have degrees in real subjects, like math, chem, or eng. You must be some kind of troll....
/sarc
My neice graduated last year with a comp sci degree(BA).I got her,her first job making $10 per hour while finishing.Upon graduating,she found job starting her out at $20/hr.She's 22 years old and not the best comp. sci. graduate,but yet she nailed a 42K job right out of the gate.
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