A new study finds that almost half of American workers with college degrees are overqualified for their jobs. Yet we still have politicians, educators and parents insisting that all young people go to college, despite the rising costs of higher education. It’s another “new normal.”
The study, released by the non-profit Center for College Affordability and Productivity, says the trend is likely to continue for newly minted college graduates over the next decade.
“It is almost the new normal,” says lead author Richard Vedder, an Ohio University economist and founder of the center, based in Washington.
The problem is there are more college graduates than there are jobs requiring a degree.
Vedder, whose study is based on 2010 Labor Department data, says the problem is the stock of college graduates in the workforce (41.7 million) in 2010 was larger than the number of jobs requiring a college degree (28.6 million).
That, he says, helps explain why 15% of taxi drivers in 2010 had bachelor’s degrees vs. 1% in 1970. Among retail sales clerks, 25% had a bachelor’s degree in 2010. Less than 5% did in 1970.
“There are going to be an awful lot of disappointed people because a lot of them are going to end up as janitors,” Vedder says. In 2010, 5% of janitors, 115,520 workers, had bachelor’s degrees, his data show.
The article goes on to note that another study found that there is a shortage of qualified workers for high-tech jobs, so maybe the problem isn’t so much too many degree holders, but rather students wasting their time and money studying the wrong subjects.
Over qualified! I would bet most of them can’t even balance a checkbook, or create a budget. You have to remember where these 21st students got their education. 2+2=5 is what they are taught. Take away the cell phone and 99 % of these low information voters, are on the verge of a breakdown.
I want my MTV!!! my ass(Y)
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Almost half are overqualified?
That’s laughable, considering the poor quality of their education.
Using the term “overqualified” is a standard tactic used by potential employers to show the door to some degreed applicant that is actually too stupid to hold a glass right side up. The term eases them quietly out the door without having to call security and creating a potential legal hassle.
“Oh, we’re so sorry, but this position is far below what your intellect and qualifications demand.”
Heh. You bet.
A degree does not mean the holder has somehow become educated and qualified. Not even close. It simply means they spent four years(or more) as a student that may have actually partied endlessly or sat around in the coffee houses and bars pontificating about Marx and Mao. A potential employer has no clue anymore whether or not they may be an actual asset to the firm… or just the newest owner of another framed but worthless certificate hanging on the wall.
Colleges and universities that wish to maintain some sort of reputation as an actual center of education should have two types of degrees: One of achievement and one of completion.
A degree of achievement would guarantee that the holder actually learned useful things at a level ensuring they will be useful and productive in the position they are applying for, while a degree of completion would mean they just coasted through, taking all the easy courses and for all practical purposes learned nothing useful to any employer, and are truly underqualified for anything other than a spot on the local football team.
Most of our colleges and universities have sold themselves out – reducing the value of their degrees to nothing – by accepting students they know in advance will never actually earn a degree. They are pushing completely unqualifed dunces out the door… simply for the money all those government grants provide.
This nation set itself on a fatally self-destrucive course they day we decided that IQ tests were unfair and that everybody is equal, one of the dumbest decisions ever made by supposedly intelligent people.
Sad.
Based on what I have seen of today’s graduates, probably 95% of them should have been awarded degrees of completion because they are in fact unqualified for any position of authority and responsibility.
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I have found that you need to look into how to get a better return on education to make college useful. There are a ton of jobs that are available that college graduates don’t qualify for because they didn’t do things like taking on an internship in college.
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