Posted on 08/07/2013 4:03:46 PM PDT by Hojczyk
According to Nick Colas, the chief market strategist at ConvergEx Group, recent graduates under 25 years-old are in a particularly bad spot right now.
"It's usually college grads that do well," Colas says in the attached video."They get the first time jobs, they're pretty cheap to employ, and generally have pretty high job satisfaction."
But, he says since the recession new government data shows that this unlucky group stands out in three key ways like never before.
Overqualified: 52% of recent grads are in jobs where a college degree is not required. Colas calls this the "most startling" new problem, and says it clearly leads to high job dissatisfaction, which itself leads to other problems. J ob Hunting at Work: Almost one in three recent grads admit to looking for a new job while on the clock at their current job. "While they're at work doing job A, they're looking for job B," he says.
Huge Pay Cuts: Despite ever increasing average tuition costs for a four-year degree ($63,000 public, $130,000 private), the pay-out when the cap and gown comes off is actually going down. In fact, Colas says recent grads now earn about $3,200 less today than they did in 2000. "It's much less, up to 30% less in many cases," he says.
"Older workers are actually the big growth area," Colas says, and "younger workers are the ones that are really taking it on the chin." He calls this structural employment problem ''a big change" from prior recoveries and says the findings raise an important question.
"One is, what does college prepare you to do?" he says. "That's a big problem because colleges charge you a lot of money, but you don't necessarily get a big pay off at the end of it."
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Older workers are doing better than younger ones for the simple reason that the older workers have had their pay frozen or cut; why get rid of the experienced, serious worker when he costs as little as the recent grad would?
And the older worker is:
A. Desperately trying to get out of debt, so won’t quit
B. Needs to bolster retirement savings, so won’t quit
C. Is on Medicare, so you don’t have to pay for benefits
D. Supporting younger relatives at home, so won’t quit
How many of these young Boneheads voted and/or worked for their Great Hero, king hussein....?
Welcome to the real world, kiddies; you reap what you sow.
College prepares you to ask if someone wants the combo meal with greater erudition and condescension. Plus the satisfaction of knowing that the Messiah one blindly voted for in 2008 has insured you won’t work more than 29 hours a week in your job.
Nothing to do with Boomers hiring their own. Thanks Boomers!
Right, and they usually end up working for someone less qualified but that’s ok, right?
It’s the ones that actually went to school, and graduated that are the problem.
I agree there are many things that tie an older worker to a job, but these young workers would be tied to them just to deal with their debts and to maintain a fairly low standard of living. Many of the old adages about people leaving as soon as another opportunity beckons are on hold indefinitely.
A female co-worker left for a better pay job with great benefits and flex time; she was downsized within two months.
“Nothing to do with Boomers hiring their own. Thanks Boomers!”
I don’t think that has much to do with it; at my job supervisors (including myself) have hired them because they are qualified.
This depends a lot on what courses one takes in college.
When I went to college, I took courses which led to a degree in Chemical Engineering. I have never had a problem in getting a job.
Now I have seen a lot of people with degrees in English, History, a Foreign language, anything ending in "Studies", etc. have problems getting a job.
The problem is not college, it is the courses one chooses to take.
Exactly. People in my field with a PhD have less than a 2% unemployment rate. PhDs in humanities and other "soft" subjects have a tough time finding a job. Of course, I did a bit of research before selecting a major.
Suggested careers for new grads:
McDonalds (soon to pay $15/yr)
Obamacare “guide”
Hillary 2016 campaign staff (cute female interns preferred)
Harvesting shredded poultry downstream from wind turbines
Solar panel washer
Gas station attendant (after Baraq takes NJ’s law national)
Bank teller (after Baraq outlaws ATMs)
Ethanol plant technician
Which is why you’re getting people taking jobs for which they are overqualified... that makes no sense whatsoever.
Clearly, qualifications aren’t the issue, and unless you somehow believe that talent exists only among Boomers, it doesn’t make sense that qualified young folks aren’t getting hired.
What’s happening is that Boomers are hiring their own, and that’s all there is to it. Not a boomer - no job for you!
Maybe for you that’s how it worked. That’s not what I’m seeing on this end. What is happening is that it doesn’t really matter what degree you take. The jobs just aren’t there. And when a younger person applies for the job they are usually informed that they aren’t the ‘right fit’ for the job, despite having the correct qualifications.
Then when they apply for something that they are overqualified (since we have to work!), we are told that we would ‘just leave at the first opening to work somewhere else’.
I did an experiment once, applying for the same job with the degree and without the degree, and I actually got more interviews when I left the qualifications off.
What does that tell you? It tells you that they aren’t really interested in ‘qualifications’.
“Overqualified” is a stupid term for people who are just out of college and have NO experience in the field. And if you are “well educated” in Ethnic Basketweaving of Ancient Egypt and are applying at Serious IT Systems Ltd you are also not “overqualified” because you are not qualified in that field.
The older people I hired weren’t overqualified; they were simply qualified. The young people weren’t as qualified, and I didn’t fear the older people leaving for something else (they didn’t). Understand, the boomers were the only people applying who had command of the English language (and we deal with clients via phone & email).
The boomers were unemployed but employable, took the jobs for lower pay than they had been receiving, and did a great job; what is your problem with that? I have other employees that aren’t boomers; I could write a book about it (a combination comedy & tragedy).
In my area boomers are hurting; when they are laid off most of the jobs they were trained for had gone, leaving few options for them. They don’t retire; they “are retired” by the economy.
Young People, is that code for “Obama Voters”?
I’m not sure, but that could be Racist.
Qualifications are not measured in degrees unless yer daddy owns the company IMO.......
My opinion....
Kind of interesting. I started to work in 1990 and at the time the saying was, no experience, no work for you, get out of my face. And as I got the experience, the saying switched to, you are not a young kid, experience is not necessary. If you are not willing to drop your pay down significantly, then we don’t want you. Last company I worked for changed significantly over a 10 year period. When I hired on, they cared was the job got done and done well. Close to the end, it went to several sore points.
- you have the vacation time but you can’t take vacation, there is too much work when in reality, there was little work that can be done. And you can take vacation only like the late fall to early spring. Of course Christmas was excluded. Those who can take vacation like in the Summer and at Christmas ere the high ups.
- We are tightening the dress code. Must wear fine dress slacks and this includes on Friday and weekends. Never know when someone very important comes and visits. On your shirt, it requires to be long sleeved and this includes if the day will be above 90 degrees F
- Management is making some changes. You are given orders to relocate, at your own expense to the East Coast. You are required to sell your house and buy one at the new location. The new house is required to have items to make it much more expensive, located in a certain town (more money).
At the end, I told them to stuff it. Have to play all these games to stayed employed and the price was too much. In fact, they started to poke their nose into my investments - they were very good and they wanted me to make bad choices. I told them to back off or else then got fired for not being cooperative.
One thing is you are responsible for your well being and don’t let anyone else decide how that will go. Their idea will be bad for you. You will also should be willing to get fired. Once you get fired, they have no more control on you. That company tried to dictate what I did afterward but I had two words for them - **** off !
I have a hard time finding someone under 40 who knows HOW to work.
“Understand, the boomers were the only people applying who had command of the English language”
Right. Nothing like a little hyperbole mixed in with outright lies. Yeah, like I believe that.
“what is your problem with that?”
The fact that you’re willing to lie about not-boomers?
“In my area boomers are hurting; when they are laid off most of the jobs they were trained for had gone, leaving few options for them. They don’t retire; they “are retired” by the economy.”
In my area, every single one of my classmates have moved away (including myself) in order to find work. The only people who have jobs are Boomers. The town, hit their peak population in 1995 at 82 thousand. It’s down to 68 already. That’s 14 thousand folks my age who have outright left.
Like I said, employers would prefer to hire someone with no qualifications over someone with an education.
“Right. Nothing like a little hyperbole mixed in with outright lies. Yeah, like I believe that.”
I can swear on my children that the boomers were the only applicants I had that spoke English correctly; I don’t know the last time you were in northern NJ, but many younger Americans with any aspirations have already left. The last time I had an opening (2 years ago) many people hadn’t yet lost their jobs.
“The fact that you’re willing to lie about not-boomers?”
I am thirty years younger than these boomers; I have no reason to take up for them. Where I see problems is with government jobs they hold well past retirement age, because 1) there is no real work involved, and 2) the wages/benefits are so far above what they could earn otherwise (and anyone else earns).
The boomers often have to stick it out because they are stuck with mortgages/properties nobody wants in areas losing jobs; I don’t resent them fighting to keep what they’ve paid for over decades. I also know that in the “new normal” economy few can retire at 65; here in NJ your property taxes alone would cost you over $600 per month. While the state freezes them at 65, they are frozen at $600 per month (and you have to pay the annual increases, getting the difference refunded to you at tax time).
“I can swear on my children that the boomers were the only applicants I had that spoke English correctly; I don’t know the last time you were in northern NJ, but many younger Americans with any aspirations have already left. The last time I had an opening (2 years ago) many people hadn’t yet lost their jobs.”
Ok, well, that explains things. I have been through NJ just recently, but only along I-95. Camden is a dump, and there’s not much in the turnpike.
I am sorry I accused you of lying. It’s just frustrating. I did all the right things, got a degree, paid off my loan and I’m having a hard time getting full time work. I don’t have an engineering degree (I did 2 years of physics and astronomy, but washed out of rocket science). So I went into history with the desire to teach. They radically changed the curriculum before I finished, so I ended up dropping out. I swear, I did better without the degree than with it.
The only work I got for years after I graduated was my own when I opened up a tutoring business and made decent money teaching other students. I took on pretty much all comers, everything save language students not taking English.
I do ok now, but I want to get married, buy a house, things like that, and I can’t do it on what I make. I am still trying to save up for the down payment (as I have no other debts), but that takes time. At 20 percent of 75k I’ll need around 15k or so. I’m 3 months ahead of my bills and have just started on pumping up my savings.
I relocated across the country to get work in TX, and I work as a teacher part-time for now, and do the same things I’ve always done to supplement my income (some data entry, some tutoring, etc).
It’s just a difficult market these days. For anybody.
I hope things turn around soon; you’re in a better area for work than up here (I’m at exit 15W on the NJ Turnpike). Buying the house was probably the worst thing I did; it ties us to the area until things improve (which around here will be a LONG time). Glad I married and had kids, but we lived in an apartment at first and that gives you flexibility that a home can take from you. Savings is a thing of the past, and I’m dealing with a lot of debt (wife works part-time, and has hours reduced every summer). While I am working, the pay hasn’t kept up with inflation and the proeprty taxes keep rising; financially we’re treading water.
I’m glad you’re making some headway; I haven’t been ahead on bills since my first child was born (and he’s a teenager now). That’s a nice position you’re in; better than most I’d think. Once the family and house are in the picture, there are outlays of money that just wear you down...
Again, best of luck; if things ever pick up again in NJ they’ll need some Americans to re-settle it!
Well, I’d rather have the wife and kids than the savings and flexibility.
I lived in a pit that was economically depressed when things were booming. It’s even worse now. I had to spend money to move and get a brand new start. The cost is starting over again and that’s hard. I wish I were married. :(
“I wish I were married. :( “
I understand; I don’t know how old you are (I’m in my early forties), but I haven’t had a decent sleep in years over this economy & personal finances. Any time it looks like you’re catching up, you have to fix a roof or replace a water heater or the kids need school clothes or the wife has expensice dental work and the list goes on and on.
There are certainly plenty of women out there who wish somebody wanted to get married.
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