underemployment

let's face it, college is the new high school. everyone and their brother can get into a college and get a degree. this means that the employment options that used to be available to a high school graduate are now the options for college graduates...for the most part. yes, college graduates are still managing to snag an entry-level position here and there, but i look at a lot of my friends and people that i know, and i see capable, competent, well-educated people with $30-50k in college debt who are working for minimum wage.

abe posted this article about the "tuition bubble": http://consumerist.com/2010/09/when-will-the-college-tuition-bubble-burst.html, which had a pretty staggering chart, and a lot of good info in the comments.

my point is, it's the same world today, but it's also a different world. you are not guaranteed a job just because you have a degree.


that is a chart of the national unemployment rate over the past 40 years, taken from the bureau of labor statistics.

i don't really have a point to this, other than i'm tired of it being an employers market. and when the "tuition bubble" bursts, and thousands of former professors with phDs and multiple degrees enter the job market, it's only going to be harder for the rest of us to find a job that pays a living wage.

what really upsets me is that work 5-7 days a week, but still can't come close to "making it."