The title says it all: [url="<a href=“http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/few-recent-grads-were-actually-forced-to-work-as-baristas-study-finds/114383%22%5DAccording”>http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/few-recent-grads-were-actually-forced-to-work-as-baristas-study-finds/114383"]According to a recent study/url, fewer than 10% of recent college graduates work in low-skill barista-type jobs, and most underemployed college graduates are actually working in higher-paying jobs that don’t require a degree, but still make more than their non-degreed co-workers. (Lots of other interesting stuff in the paper, as well.)
One could argue that <10% is still too high, but it does run counter to the narrative you hear on this and other outlets occasionally that a college degree just isn’t worth it anymore.
Also, to tap into something that gets discussed on this forum ad nauseam, the study finds differential outcomes by major, but the report also acknowledges the problem with causality: Is it that different majors result in different employment, or that different types of students choose different majors and those students are differently employable? That’s probably an ultimately unanswerable question, really, given the nature of the way majors are chosen.
Interesting report. It’s about what I expected. The real challenge is for those without a college degree.
That’s the overall result (8.6% for low-skilled service jobs). For some majors it’s much higher than 10%. It’s over 20% for Leisure/Hospitality and Performing Arts majors, and over 15% for Fine Arts, Anthropology, Nutrition Sciences and Family/Consumer Sciences.
Top 10 majors by probability of underemployment:
Criminal Justice 0.700
Performing Arts 0.663
Leisure and Hospitality 0.640
Anthropology 0.624
Art History 0.621
Public Policy and Law 0.618
Business Management 0.601
Fine Arts 0.591
History 0.575
Animal and Plant Sciences 0.572
At a wedding, I chatted with a young couple in their early to mid 20s. Both had relatively impractical majors - Anthropology and Latin American Studies. Both were employed with decent salaries in interesting jobs that had little direct connection to their choice of major.
It was very comforting. My kid will probably end up majoring in something like linguistics - I’m looking at you @dfbdfb !
Seems like it really depends on the definition of “underemployed.”
Just because the job doesn’t require a degree doesn’t mean that the person holding it is “underemployed.”
I have a law degree but gave up practicing 20 years ago in favor of doing stuff that I found more enjoyable and more emotionally rewarding… no degree required. But the smarts that I picked up along the way from my education - critical thinking skills, writing skills, etc. --certainly are a major factor in my ability to do well in my 2nd career.