08 July 2007

Employment Outlook Good for US Graduates

For recent university graduates in the US, employment prospects could not look much better.
"If you want a job and you're a college grad, you can get one," is the smart—only somewhat overstated—observation that Roy Krause, head of staffing company Spherion, just imparted to me over the phone. Indeed, college grads had just a 2 percent unemployment rate in June, according to new Labor Department data, vs. 3.5 percent for those with "some college," 4.1 percent for high school grads, and 6.7 percent for those who did not finish high school.

More good news came from the June income numbers: Real wages for workers—not managers—increased by 3.9 percent, year over year. Deflate by the core May inflation rate of 2.3 percent—the latest numbers available—and you get real wage growth of 1.6 percent. Not too shabby. Right now, Wall Street recession expectations are pretty low. "The threat of recession has abated, as job and income gains provide the wherewithal to support consumer spending," is the analysis of former Federal Reserve governor Lyle Gramley. In fact, the Big Money Crowd is more worried about China than U.S. housing as a source of future trouble.
Source

In reality, it is very possible for high school dropouts in the US to become millionaires within 20 years, if they use discipline and good sense. Of course, those are not attributes generally applied to high school dropouts. The sad truth is, however, that a high school dropout or graduate could easily achieve a higher paying job than many college/university graduates by learning a useful trade and traveling to where the high paying jobs are. In other words, in the US economy, being useful can easily be more important than having a lot of letters behind your name.

In fact, in a general atmosphere of academic lobotomy and psychological neoteny, the sooner a strong-minded and ambitious person strikes out on his/her own, the better. Parents should consider what they would want their children to know, should they step out into the real world at the age of 18 or 20, and begin teaching them when they are young.

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2 Comments:

Blogger Audacious Epigone said...

The problem, of course, is that those who're useful are those who're most likely to pursue a college degree. Academia tries to flip causality on it's head. Who can blame it, really? It's not the truth the pedants are after, anyway!

Sunday, 08 July, 2007  
Blogger al fin said...

True.

Too many parents entrust the establishment with all facets of the child's education. Big mistake.

At least Bill Gates, Richard Branson, and so many other people of accomplishment knew when to stop schooling and start doing.

If parents could teach children how important it is to learn real world skills, and to use them, a lot more youth would have the internal compass that told them when to make their own way--away from the pedants.

Monday, 09 July, 2007  

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“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act” _George Orwell

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