It’s just another piece of the class-war puzzle:
Virtually every single member of congress, every senator, every Capitol Hill staffer, every White House advisor, every Fed governor, and every major political reporter is a college graduate. What’s more, we have a large amount of social segregation in the United States—college graduates tend to socialize with each other.
And among college graduates, there simply isn’t an economic crisis in the United States. This is not the best of times, but it’s perfectly rational in gradland to be balancing concern about the labor market situation with dozens of other concerns. If you did anything, you’d probably step in to prevent teacher layoffs, which is a clear and present danger to a large bloc of college graduates. But beyond that, no need to panic.
anyone who thinks there’s no economic crisis for college graduates is not paying attention. i know plenty of grads either without work, or underemployed, or unemployed, or working shit jobs. My former editor at Philly Weekly lost his job there, and now works as a barista (he’s also married with a 2 year old). my friend tim in Boston hasn’t had a salary for years: he works in a bar.
then you have those of us who hate our jobs and and can’t leave. and then there’s the mountain of debt: my own loans have been in forebearance for the past two years.
i realize that the situation for college grads is better than the situation for those without a BA. But to say there’s no crisis is just plain wrong. These days, I don’t tell any of the kids I know to go to college. I tell them to learn a trade: be an electrician, a plumber, an undertaker.
Has age been factored into those statistics? I know several 55+ college grads who’ve been out of work for 2 or more years.
Yep, brendancalling is dead on target. Most folks I know have a degree or two and can’t find anything, or if they get something it’s akin to a Mcdonalds-type hustle. The economy is fucked and it’s gonna be this way for the forseable future—-so get used to it. If we can keep a Dem (DINO, or not) in office maybe we will have some degree of socialism to help support families and kids. How many years did the Saint Ronnie Revolution go on?
Both our 30-something children are college grads. Our daughter, who holds a Master’s degree, teaches part time at two different community colleges because she has found it impossible to get considered for a full time position. Our son works part time at a book store, and was astounded when he actually got a 25 cent per hour raise recently. Perhaps those who went the way of the MBA have no worries, but Liberal Arts majors are having a very difficult time.
“…How many years did the Saint Ronnie Revolution go on?…”
dandy, I’d say it’s still going on, and if anything, it’s about to be shifted into overdrive.
by the way, i just leanred that the $23000 tuition at Drexel isn’t for the 2 years I expect to be there, but for each individual year… so now I am officially reconsidering if I’m going to go to school after all (if not, i have sacrificed the $100 tuition deposit i paid a week ago).
i can’t afford the debt I have now. Jacking it up to nearly $100,000 isn’t an option unless someone can prove that i’ll be able to pay it off or have it forgiven.
I want to know where Yglesias got the chart.
I work with two college grads – at a convenience store. Not saying, just saying.
Yglesias lives in a different world from me and the other college grads I know who can’t find work. Wow.
Maintain that access, dude, or you might be out on your ass.