i notice they never breakout the different programs by unemployment... i'd like to see how many philosophy majors and "fill in the blank Studies" majors vs the sciences are working
Posted on 10/03/2009 6:36:45 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Amid worse-than-expected job losses and an unemployment rate that hit 9.8% last month, new Labor Department data Friday showed the 21-month recession is taking a greater toll on college graduates than high school dropouts.
You're still far more likely to be employed with a bachelor's degree than if you're a high school dropout. But in a telling sign of the breadth of the recession, the latest data also indicate that the numbers of unemployed jobseekers are growing fastest among Americans with higher education.
Since the recession began in December 2007, the number of unemployed school dropouts, 25 and older, rose 99% to 1.8 million. Among those with bachelor's degrees and higher, the number surpassed 2.2 million, an increase of 136%.
"It was a bit of a surprise," said Scott Adams, an economist at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee who first spotted the trend a few months ago when he was a senior economist on the U.S. President's Council of Economic Advisers.
"Recessions are becoming a bit more egalitarian," Adams said. "It certainly has been hitting people of all education levels. And no longer is it the case that just having a bachelor's degree shields you from economic downturns."
After four months of reports in which analysts cited an easing up of recession, the release Friday signaled a setback.
U.S. employers cut another 263,000 jobs last month, up more than 40% from what analysts had forecast and another reminder that, as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has suggested, the recession might be over technically but its fallout will linger.
From May through September, the nation lost an average 307,000 jobs a month, down from 645,000 a month between November and April. The country has lost 7.2 million jobs since the recession began.
The unemployment rate rose to 9.8% last month, double the rate 21 months ago, adjusting for seasonal fluctuations. The U.S. rate in August was 9.7%, compared with 8.8% in Wisconsin.
President Barack Obama said Friday's report of U.S. job losses is a "sobering reminder that progress comes in fits and starts" and that he is considering additional steps to spur economic growth.
"I'm working closely with my economic advisers to explore any and all additional options and measures that we might take to promote job creation," Obama said at the White House.
In a report Friday, Mark Marcon, a senior research analyst at Milwaukee's Robert W. Baird & Co., called the Labor Department numbers "a material step back."
"The September employment report was almost uniformly terrible and a worse result than what we saw in August," Marcon said. "There were only a couple of positive data points in the report and a slew of negative data points."
Van Mobley, an economist at Concordia University Wisconsin, also questioned the economy's resilience.
"I've actually heard anecdotally some signs that are very distressing of late in the sense that things are just not bouncing back," said Mobley. For instance, Mobley said, car sales fell off as soon as the federal "Cash for Clunkers" stimulus program ended in August, and the latest manufacturing report from the Institute for Supply Management showed a slight decline.
While the country lost 7.2 million jobs since the recession began, the ranks of unemployed jobseekers have swelled to 15.1 million.
In addition, 2.2 million Americans were able and willing to work but weren't looking for a job last month, many because they were too discouraged. Another 9.2 million settled for part-time work after striking out at finding full-time situations.
According to the report, high school dropouts have an unemployment rate of 15%, compared with 4.9% of four-year college graduates.
"It's still worth pursuing a bachelor's degree because the returns in terms of earnings are greater ," Adams said. "Plus, if you do lose your job and you have a degree, you're going to be able to find a job much more easily. You'll just have more options as we move into an economic recovery."
Surely this lag or absence of hiring recent college graduates has absolutely nothing to do with what universities are teaching these days.
Or nothing to do with the degrees offered.
Surely.
Sorry, hit post before I caught the raw numbers vs my percentage!
Read before posting Red!
You're paying for your own stupidity and ignorance. Enjoy your hope and change.
Since all liberals are brilliant intellectuals, that means that a large majority of highly educated job-seekers are liberals. It only stands to reason that since they are going to be seeking jobs in government, in order to change everything into paradise, they should be subsidized while the economy is bad, in order to nourish them while they await their positions which they will fill with their brilliance.
/s/
My daughter graduated in January from A& M and still can’t find a job in Big D. If we move her back to San Antonio, she’ll be stuck with the remainder of the rent. She left the nest and it’s a lesson to be learned that you really can’t go back(but I have a battle convincing you know who about my theory)
Is she unable to find a job in her field, or ANY job?
Unemployment rate,
based on educational attainment,
for jobseekers 25 and older
Less than high school: 15%
High school, no college: 10.8%
Some college or associate degree: 8.5%
Bachelor’s degree or higher: 4.9%
That is exactly the point I made to my daughter - a recent college graduate who has been able to find only part time work. ( I was a little more gentle with my wording, I am her Daddy.) Actually, if we conservatives play our cards right, this can be an excellent teaching moment. It may be these disillusioned young people will become tomorrows conservative base - if we play it right.-—JM
Isn't that what Barry wanted, Spread the wealth around... Oh well, wealth, misery? It's all the same in a socialist paridise.
This is one reason why states and municipalities are being so hard hit. In past recessions, layoffs generally hit the lower-payed, uneducated employees. That didn’t hurt the tax revenues of states and municipalities because higher-payed, educated emplyees were still employed, paying their income taxes.
Now higher-payed, educated employees are losing those big salaries and state tax revenues are taking a big hit because of it. It may be one thing for a $50,000 per year worker to lose his job and live on $20,000 unemployment...its something entirely different when $90,000 professionals lose their paychecks and have to live on $20,000 unemployment. In that case the state’s tax revenues take a bigger hit.
i notice they never breakout the different programs by unemployment... i'd like to see how many philosophy majors and "fill in the blank Studies" majors vs the sciences are working
Those uneducated oafs that didn’t graduate from high school (and the ones who did, but couldn’t afford to go to college) have learned trades and work (GASP!) with their hands to earn a living while the majority of college graduates have no marketable skills beyond those created by government rules, record keeping requirements,regulations, OSHA and IRS requirements, and a host of other government programs that require the educated work of “pencil pushers.”
In reality, they have nothing that actually produces anything for society and now that times are hard, only those who actually produce a needed service or product are in a position of relative safety.
Ahh,yes, “economic justice” at last! And I guess this is what O meant when he bragged about “growing the economy from the bottom up”.
My daughter also graduated A&M with a BBA, but back in Aug. 2008. She has been unable to find a position in her field, but is certainly not lazy, working two jobs to tide her through. A lot of her friends are also having great difficulty finding the types of jobs they anticipated when they began college in 2004.
“in order to nourish them while they await their positions which they will fill with their brilliance.”
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
At least they’ll fil sumpin’ wit’ sumpin’ alright. Seriously, people are saying that this is a different kind of recession but it is not a recession, it is a crash/depression and it won’t be over any time soon. This is going to go on for many years, this is the result of decades of doing the wrong things and it won’t be fixed in a few months or even in two or three years. If people don’t wise up and return to logical thinking it may go on indefinitely.
I have been expecting something like this for thirty years or more, in fact it took much longer to happen than I expected so by the time it got here I had gotten complacent and was beginning to think maybe I would be lucky and it wouldn’t happen in my lifetime. There have been plenty of warnings from people like Milton Freidman over the years but they went unheeded, now we suffer the consequences.
Where do those history degrees fit?
As for ‘marketable’ skills, why do you assume that those with a degree don’t also have a trade? You can do both.
A degree in almost anything in the medical field will get you many job offers. If you opted to get a degree in English Lit and French Art, you should expect to flip burgers.
Career planning, and your college course selection, should involve looking at what jobs will be available, and what their starting pay is going to be.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.