Posted on 07/01/2012 3:24:51 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Andi Meuth earned a history degree from Texas A&M in May and has applied for 150 jobs, so far with no luck.
Jon Ancira graduated with a bachelor's degree in psychology last year, but can't find work that uses his degree. After six months of searching, the 26-year-old did finally land a job — at a bank.
Alex Ricard, 21, is grateful to be using his electronic media degree from Texas State at a social media startup company, but it's an unpaid internship.
He says he's sent out three to five resumes a week for the past two months, with almost no response from prospective employers. When he does hear back, he says, it's most often that he doesn't have enough experience.
While the particulars for each graduate are different, the overarching narrative has become familiar.
Up to half of all recent college grads are jobless or underemployed, doing low-wage work outside their chosen fields, according to a widely reported analysis this spring by the Associated Press.
These young women and men still have high expectations — as do their parents — that a college degree will pay off, despite rising tuition and the resulting debt.
But increasingly, say economists and workforce experts, there is a mismatch in today's job market between graduates' skills and those needed in the fastest-growing career fields.
The recession changed the economy permanently, economists say. In this largely jobless recovery, millions of mid- and entry-level positions are gone, the work now automated.
Many of those with college degrees who do find jobs can expect lower salaries and reduced earning potential over their working lives. Rising debt — the average graduate carries about $25,000 in loans — can push the often-necessary advanced degree out of reach.
Locally, the unemployment rate among 20- to 24-year-olds has been about twice as high as the overall rate.
Psych degree overload
Ricard still holds out hope that his degree will eventually lead to a job, given the increased importance of social media and digital technology, but he has his limits: August.
“If I haven't found something by then,” he said, “even though I'd like to think my days of fast-food jobs are behind me, it becomes less about the job I want and more about the job I need at that point.”
Not all graduates face such dire straits. Those with in-demand degrees in areas such as engineering, information technology and nursing enjoy much brighter job prospects.
Kevin Davis, who earned an electrical engineering degree from the University of Texas at Austin, had three job offers before he graduated in May. He took a job with Toshiba in Houston.
John Hollman will graduate from Austin Community College in December with a two-year associate degree in nursing. The San Antonio native already has two job offers, one from his current employer of nine years, Texas Oncology.
But employers and workforce agencies say the labor market is suffering from a jobs-skills mismatch.
Psychology, for example, is the third-most-popular four-year degree in Texas and one of the fastest growing, according to Workforce Solutions Alamo, a public agency that works to bring people and jobs together.
Problem is, there's almost no demand at that level, said Eva Esquivel, communications manager with the agency.
More than 5,000 people graduated from Texas colleges and universities with bachelor's degrees in psychology in 2010, she said, to compete for four job openings in the field, with an annual salary of $22,000.
“That's not even enough to pay student loans back,” Esquivel said. Most psychology jobs require a higher-level degree — and there still aren't many positions available.
Ancira, who saw some of his psychology research published while studying at Northwest Vista, one of the Alamo Colleges, said he found fewer research opportunities after transferring to UT.
Disenchanted, he looked into changing majors or getting an advanced degree, but the burden of $36,000 in student loans put him off.
Meuth, who lives in San Antonio, said she knew the job market for history majors without a master's degree or teaching certification was limited but decided to go for a major she was passionate about, even in a slumping economy. She wants to work in a museum eventually, which requires a master's, but is putting it off for now to avoid taking out any loans.
Conversely, Texas colleges graduated far fewer engineers than psychology majors in 2010 — just 271 petroleum engineers, according to Workforce Solutions Alamo, and demand far outstrips supply, especially as the Eagle Ford Shale continues to boom.
Starting pay for petroleum engineers averages $85,000, Esquivel said. For the 405 chemical engineers who graduated in 2010, it's about $60,000.
Skills in short supply
Chris Nielsen, president and CEO of Toyota Motor Manufacturing in San Antonio, said the company has struggled to fill engineering positions and points to the healthy starting salary as proof of the competitive nature of the field.
But perhaps more crucially, Nielsen said that in the six years the company has been building trucks in San Antonio, it's never been able to fill all its trade positions, or what it calls “skilled job” positions.
Those include maintaining assembly-line robots, which Nielson said requires training in programming, hydraulics and pneumatics.
These are good, career-track positions, he said, many that pay in the $60,000 range.
Toyota is hardly alone.
Manufacturers surveyed in the latest “Skills Gap” report from the Manufacturing Institute, an affiliate of the National Association of Manufacturers, reported that roughly 5 percent of current jobs go unfilled because of a lack of qualified candidates. That's as many as 600,000 unfilled jobs — machinists, operators, craft workers, distributors, technicians and more — that manufacturers say hamper their ability to expand operations, drive innovation and improve productivity.
Those surveyed said the national education curriculum is not producing workers with the basic skills they need, and the trend is not likely to improve in the near term.
Tom Pauken, appointed to the Texas Workforce Commission by Gov. Rick Perry in 2008, has become a passionate advocate for greater vocational and technical training.
He laments what he calls a “one size fits all” approach to higher education, which assumes that everyone needs a four-year degree.
Those who do are often saddled with enormous debt and still can't find good jobs, he said. “Meanwhile, there is a shortfall of qualified applicants for those with skills training as welders, electricians, pipe fitters and machinists.”
Entry-level salaries for those jobs in the San Antonio area begin in the low- to-mid-$20,000 range, according to Workforce Solutions Alamo, and rise to the upper $40,000s at the expert level.
In San Antonio, Alamo Colleges runs Alamo Academies, which aims to train high school juniors and seniors for skilled employment in fast-growing local industries, including aerospace, information technology and security, manufacturing and the health professions.
The academies, which are a partnership among the community college district, local industry and workforce agencies, also provide college credits, and expose students to occupations that require a college education. Students stay in their high schools, take about half their classes at the academy and participate in a paid internship in their chosen field.
After high school, graduates earn an average starting pay of more than $30,000 and will have earned a couple dozen college credits.
“I tell students they need to do career planning even before education planning,” said Esquivel, who travels a 12-county region talking to high school students about where job growth will occur in the coming years. “I wish more students would take advantage” of the information her agency has to offer.
Luisa Ramirez, the on-campus recruiting coordinator at the University of Texas at San Antonio, said she's seen an increase in freshmen who come to the career center seeking advice, rather than waiting until they're seniors.
“They've seen their parents go through the recession,” she said, “So they're more aware.”
Ancira said many recent graduates might be in for a rude awakening.
“You go to school thinking you're going to graduate and there's going to be a job in an office waiting for you,” he said, “but a few years into it, you realize that's not really going to happen.”
I can get all the history I need by using Google.
I don’t need a degree for it.
“Huh? That is $4.36 an hour for full time. You could make more babysitting or picking up pop bottles.”
Welcome to the reality of today’s world for the younguns. Shocking isn’t it?
I’m sure that doing either would be a better idea than teaching a class of 15 and picking up skills and experience. :)
I work, pay my bills, live with a roommate and stuff everything I can away.
The problem is that most of the current crop of graduates are looking for jobs not “work”. As a matter of fact, many feel the degree means they don’t have to work.
Also, due to the entitlement mentality of the US nowadays, most feel entitled to a well-paying job just for graduating. The real world can be a kick in the pants though.
The way education is funded now is a killer also, as most leave college with large loan owed on their college years which puts even more pressure on them to find that high-paying job to get out from under.
All the current crop should have seen this coming, but probably felt that the economy would be back on track by now or they believe the MSM bullshit that “everything is improving” foisted on us covering for the Kenyan. I’d feel worse for them, but since most of them voted for that nitwit, they are getting the payback they earned.
Yes indeed, the real world can be a bitch.
Face it....a history major is worthless in the real world.
My sister has a degree in art from the U of Wisconsin. Talk about useless. In addition to that she is an avowed university indoctrinated Marxist democrat.
“Oh, bull. I live in New York City and believe me with rent and food, $100 bucks a week (that’s pretax in a highly taxed city) was starvation wages.”
And I choose to live in Texas where my money is actually worth something. Apparently we ‘pampered youngsters’ are willing to give up the amenities unlike our elders.
“You chose to teach school so why complain?”
I’m correcting your statement that young people are expecting 60k a year fresh out of school. Personally, I’d be wealthy off half that here in Texas. I can understand why someone living in New York city would think otherwise. ;)
FR DOES seem to be obsessed with engineering degrees. But if you have no talent for that (I’m raising my hand) what are you supposed to do, LOL? I don’t think there is anything wrong with an English or History degree. It’s nice to talk to people who think WWII wasn’t fought in the 19th Century. But it probably will take you longer to get ahead - unless you can secure a job teaching or writing.
“Chick fil A is not a bad route at all....learn the ropes, save the money, open up your own.”
I read recently the owner of a good Chick fil A franchise can take home $300K per year. Plus it is a privately held organization with good Christian values. The unit near me is always spotless and the service is outstanding.
Ok sir, tell me what the national debt was after the revolutionary war, and how the Continental congress paid it back.
I have been advising young people I meet to take courses in those fields, as they can’t be outsourced to India. If I need my air conditioner fixed, they can’t ship it to India to fix it.
Young man across the street got his ticket in A/C last year and he is busy doing side work everyday, while still working a regular job.
The whole moving up to white collar work from the jobs requiring “getting your hands dirty” is bad advise now, as probably 75% of those jobs are now outsourced overseas.
Air conditioning, plumbing, electrician, mechanic are all jobs that are always needed. If you can’t find a regular job, you can do side work and make good money till you do.
If each person who went to college was requrired to participate in a intership say, in their second year, I have no doubt many of these kids studying goofball studies would change drastically change their chosen field.
Without going into a lot of detail I tried to get a job in my, at that time, area of study. About a year into college. Well, 5 minutes into a interveiw I realized I was totally in the wrong field.
In other words, more hands on. Rather than four years of studying a lot of useless crap which is the oposite of reality anyhow.
Thanks for your post #106. I, too, had no talent for engineering but that didn’t stop me. Of course, I graduated many, many moons ago (1966) when the degree actually meant something. I had a great career and today I’m happily retired with an income that means I have no money worries at all.
I can’t speak for today’s graduates, but apparently, so many of FR can...and WITH AUTHORITY!! They know. You don’t.
Public debt is a fact of life. The U.S. has had debt since its inception. Our records show that debts incurred during the American Revolutionary War amounted to $75,463,476.52 by January 1, 1791. Over the following 45 years, the debt grew.
Notably, the public debt actually shrank to zero by January 1835, under President Andrew Jackson. But soon after, it quickly grew into the millions again.
The American Civil War resulted in dramatic debt growth. The debt was just $65 million in 1860, but passed $1 billion in 1863 and had reached $2.7 billion following the war. The debt grew steadily into the Twentieth Century and was roughly $22 billion as the country paid for involvement in World War
The second big glut of college graduates - the grandchildren of the “Baby Boomers” don't have an employer of last resort to turn to and it shows.
I wounder what the third big glut of unemployable college graduates look like (the grandchildren of today's graduates)? I find speculating about their degrees to be an exercise of amusement and comedy and sadness.
And how did the Continental Congress pay down their debt?
I am the founder and owner of an industrial electronic manufacturing and product design business.
What’s yours?
I am an engineer looking at “retirement” in about ten years. Even with it being that far off, I am already getting inquiries from community colleges to teach technology courses in refinery instrumentation. The need for the blue collar jobs are there.
“Gee, I can’t imagine why students raised on “being green” would not choose degrees in petroleum engineering.”
I moved to Tulsa in 1980. The petroleum industry was booming. Kids graduating with degrees in geology and petroleum engineering were making incredible salaries. Laid off auto workers were moving to Oklahoma and Texas to work in oilfield equipment companies. A huge housing building boom was occurring in the suburbs.
Three years later the boom was busted. Unemployment was skyrocketing and many of the newcomers to the oil patch were abandoning houses they could no longer afford and returning to their homes elsewhere.
Over the last 40 years I’ve seen booms and busts in many professions — engineers, geologists, programmers, actuaries, nuclear engineers, MBA’s, nurses, and even plumbers. The needs of the market are constantly changing and the college freshman majoring in petroleum engineering today may find there is no market for her skills when she graduates in four years.
The key to a long and successful career is being flexible and constantly developing new skills. The degree may get someone their first job (or not) but it will be the management skills and productivity of the individual that determines long term success. The engineer who cannot manage people is more handicapped as he reaches mid career than the urban studies major who develops the creative vision and management skills to lead and inspire a large organization. Likewise the high performing civil engineer who develops strong leadership skills may someday be the CEO of Exxon. Ask Rex Tillerson.
The common joke used to be: I don’t have a college degree so I am qualified for a $20,000 a year job; now that I have a History degree I am qualified for a $10,000 a year job.
Thanks and as both an American and a Christian we need to be open to the redemption of these persons. I know plenty of bikers who look like killer freaks, but who are solidly on our side when it comes to liberty and morality (unimposed).
“Hanging with “cool” teachers has left them hung out to dry. I wonder how long self-esteem can prop up the illusion.’
It has worked a long time for Michelle and Barry.
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