The Myth of the Educated Middle Class

Parent Cafe
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<p><a href=“http://touch.thebillfold.com/thebillfold/#!/entry/4fc50ad14b672622b80ddf38[/url]”>http://touch.thebillfold.com/thebillfold/#!/entry/4fc50ad14b672622b80ddf38&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>It is not easy for young people to get jobs, and that includes the college educated.</p>

<p>[Half</a> of recent college grads underemployed or jobless, analysis says | cleveland.com](<a href=“http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2012/04/half_of_recent_college_grads_u.html]Half”>Half of recent college grads underemployed or jobless, analysis says - cleveland.com)</p>

<p>"About 1.5 million, or 53.6 percent, of bachelor’s degree-holders under the age of 25 last year were jobless or underemployed, the highest share in at least 11 years. In 2000, the share was at a low of 41 percent, before the dot-com bust erased job gains for college graduates in the telecommunications and IT fields.</p>

<p>Out of the 1.5 million who languished in the job market, about half were underemployed, an increase from the previous year.</p>

<p>Broken down by occupation, young college graduates were heavily represented in jobs that require a high school diploma or less.</p>

<p>In the last year, they were more likely to be employed as waiters, waitresses, bartenders and food-service helpers than as engineers, physicists, chemists and mathematicians combined (100,000 versus 90,000). There were more working in office-related jobs such as receptionist or payroll clerk than in all computer professional jobs (163,000 versus 100,000). More also were employed as cashiers, retail clerks and customer representatives than engineers (125,000 versus 80,000).</p>

<p>According to government projections released last month, only three of the 30 occupations with the largest projected number of job openings by 2020 will require a bachelor’s degree or higher to fill the position – teachers, college professors and accountants. Most job openings are in professions such as retail sales, fast food and truck driving, jobs which aren’t easily replaced by computers.</p>

<p>College graduates who majored in zoology, anthropology, philosophy, art history and humanities were among the least likely to find jobs appropriate to their education level; those with nursing, teaching, accounting or computer science degrees were among the most likely."</p>

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<p>Lots of focus on people not getting jobs…we need more focus on creating jobs. And not from the government sector.
Good jobs are needed by all…including factory jobs which have been shipped overseas. Time to bring some back.
The majors cited as least likely to find jobs have always been a no-go on the salary front.</p>

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<p>I don’t know how likely manufacturing job growth will be going forward: [CARPE</a> DIEM: “Decline of Manufacturing” is Global Phenomenon: And Yet the World Is Much Better Off Because of It](<a href=“http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2011/04/decline-of-manufacturing-is-global.html]CARPE”>CARPE DIEM: "Decline of Manufacturing" is Global Phenomenon: And Yet the World Is Much Better Off Because of It)</p>

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<p>The thread title led me to believe this was that most middle class Americans are not that well educated, ie don’t have college degrees. Some areas have highly educated populations, especially major college towns, but most of middle America gets by with a HS plus job skills education. Seems to be true in our area- live the middle class lifestyle without advanced education.</p>

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<p>This suggests prospects are improving [2012</a> college grads enter improving job market | ajc.com](<a href=“http://www.ajc.com/business/2012-college-grads-enter-1436606.html]2012”>http://www.ajc.com/business/2012-college-grads-enter-1436606.html)</p>

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<p>Well wis75, looks like the middle class, economically, doesn’t need to go to college because most of the jobs being created don’t require a college degree.</p>

<p>Obviously, as most people on CC know, there are other benefits to a college education.</p>

<p>“According to government projections released last month, only three of the 30 occupations with the largest projected number of job openings by 2020 will require a bachelor’s degree or higher to fill the position”</p>

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<p>Jym626, nice to see prospects improving.</p>

<p>Doct, great link.</p>

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<p>The US economy is creating jobs in the private sector, but losing jobs in the government sector (so the net job creation overall is slow job growth).</p>

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<p>There was an article at cbs marketwatch yesterday saying that stgnant manufacturing wages and high productivity are making the us more competitive in manufacturing. I imagine that locally sourced energy helps too.</p>

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<p>[News</a> Headlines](<a href=“http://www.cnbc.com/id/47614988]News”>Auto Jobs: Sign of the Times)</p>

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<p>Thanks for that link, doct.</p>