It’s A Great Time To Be A New College Graduate: High Unemployment, Crappy Service Jobs, etc.)

The Economic Collapse ^ | 01/25/2011 | Mochael Snyder

[SeekAndFind]

Today, America's best and brightest are graduating from college full of hopes and dreams, but cold, hard economic reality is rapidly crushing many of them. Record numbers of college graduates cannot find jobs. Hordes of others have been forced to take very low paying service jobs. At the same time, student loan debt loads have become more crushing than ever. The truth is that it is a really, really bad time to be a fresh college graduate. After spending tens of thousands of dollars and investing four (or more) years of their lives in an education, millions of recent college graduates find themselves waiting tables, tending bar, delivering pizzas and working next to (or subordinate to) people who never even went to college. At one time, a college degree was an automatic ticket to the middle class, but now for many Americans all a college degree means is crushing loan payments, sleepless nights and mind-numbing frustration.

We were always told that a college degree was supposed to prepare us for life in the real world. But today, the vast majority of college graduates end up moving back in with their parents.

In fact, a recent survey of last year's college graduates found that 80 percent moved right back home with their parents after graduation. That was up substantially from 63 percent in 2006.

So why are 80 percent of our college graduates moving back in with their parents?

Well, because they can't get jobs.

Two million recent college graduates are unemployed, and millions of others are working in fast food joints, at big box stores and in other very low paying service positions.

The stories that some recent college grads tell are so bizarre that they border on the unbelievable.

The Huffington Post recently featured the story of Kyle Daley - a highly qualified UCLA graduate who has been unemployed for 19 months....

I spent my time at UCLA preparing for the outside world. I had internships in congressional offices, political action committees, non-profits and even as a personal intern to a successful venture capitalist. These weren't the run-of-the-mill office internships; I worked in marketing, press relations, research and analysis. Additionally, the mayor and city council of my hometown appointed me to serve on two citywide governing bodies, the planning commission and the open government commission. I used to think that given my experience, finding work after graduation would be easy.

At this point, however, looking for a job is my job. I recently counted the number of job applications I have sent out over the past year -- it amounts to several hundred. I have tried to find part-time work at local stores or restaurants, only to be turned away. Apparently, having a college degree implies that I might bail out quickly when a better opportunity comes along.

The sad thing is that so many of these recent college graduates can't even get hired for retail jobs. A reader of my column on The American Dream blog named Kate is a recent college graduate who is experiencing the kind of extreme frustration that so many new graduates are going through right now....

I just graduated college in May… Moved to a new state and am now living with my boyfriend who should not and cannot continue to have to pay everything because i just plain can’t get a job.

I’m over qualified for retail survivor jobs… so I lie on my application. But then retail stores just plain don’t hire full time. So even if I could get a job as a cashier someplace… I’d only work enough hours to maybe pay for my car payment/ car insurance/ gas…. and my half of rent/electric and such is out of the question… not to mention charged to the limit credit cards from being unemployed and student loans that will hit in just a matter of months.

Any other jobs either don’t exist or they just ALL want 5 years professional experience…. which is impossible for someone who just graduated and has been working part time retail jobs since high school.

But it just isn't college graduates that are suffering. The truth is that this economic downturn has been hurting everyone....

*According to a recent Pew Research poll, approximately 37% of all Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 have either been unemployed or underemployed at some point during the recession.

*A different Pew Research survey found that 55 percent of American workers have experienced either unemployment, a pay decrease, a reduction in hours or an involuntary move to part-time work since the recession began.

*According to another survey, 28% of all U.S. households have at least one member that is currently looking for a full-time job.

For many U.S. households, the person looking for a job is a recent college graduate.

As you read this, hordes of highly qualified college grads are out applying for jobs as waitresses, pizza delivery men, grocery checkout clerks and hamburger flippers.

Even those who are able to get decent jobs are finding themselves disappointed. Starting salaries for college graduates across the United States are down in 2010.

But why shouldn't starting salaries be down? It is the employers that hold all the leverage - not the new graduates.

Meanwhile, many of these college graduates are graduating with crushing student debt loads. Today, many students borrow 10, 20 or even 30 thousands dollars per year while they are in school.

Federal statistics reveal that only 36 percent of the full-time students who began college in 2001 received a bachelor's degree within four years.

That is a very sad statistic.

The truth is that college courses have become so "dumbed down" in 2010 that even the family dog should be able to graduate from most U.S. colleges in four years.

Even after 6 years, that same group's graduation rate was still only 57 percent.

Very sad.

But getting back to the point, every single one of those years most college students are racking up huge amounts of debt.

Today, approximately two-thirds of all U.S. college students graduate with student loans.

Student loan balances of over $50,000 are becoming quite common among our college grads. In fact, some students end up with over $100,000 in student loan debt by the time they are done.

Unfortunately, student loan debt is some of the cruelest debt out there.

Federal bankruptcy law makes it nearly impossible to discharge student loan debts, and many recent grads end up with loan payments that absolutely devastate them financially at a time when they are struggling to get on their feet and make something of themselves.

[goseminoles]

“they’ll work without raises, and be offered phony incentives, and stupid prizes in lieu of deserved raises...They’ll be threatened daily, if they don’t work harder for less, they’ll be fired.”

Welcome to my world.

[kcvl]

Kyle Daley:

“A little over a month ago, I went to the beach, put my resume in a bottle and threw it into the Pacific Ocean. No, I hadn’t seen an ad on Craigslist from Poseidon looking for a new assistant; I felt that this attempt might be my only chance of becoming gainfully employed.”

“I’m an unpaid intern who made a short documentary about unpaid internships.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kyle-daley/kyle-unemployed-19-months_b_646966.html

[kcvl]

Gabrielle Giffords’ Shooting Provoked by Tea Party
By Kyle Daley Sunday, January 09, 2011

The shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords on Saturday at local neighborhood grocery store is the result of a prolonged period of intense anger and violence in the national debate.

This visceral rage is the product of a constant stream of inflammatory language from the radical right and Tea Party members targeted at President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party. These threats emerged on Saturday showing the damning results of tacit instigations of violence by leaders of an already charged group.

http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/43370/gabrielle-giffords-shooting-provoked-by-tea-party/

[kcvl]

Kyle Daley is a Political Advisor to UniversalGiving and Pamela Hawley. In this role, he manages relationship building and government affairs for global service and philanthropy-oriented legislation and causes. Mr. Daley works with local, state, and federal agencies to increase UniversalGiving's role during this tide of service legislation. He also works to strengthen the recognition of the UniversalGiving brand by outreaching to media outlets and publications. In addition, Mr. Daley partakes in research of new media applications for UniversalGiving in this growing world of mobile technology. Mr. Daley recently graduated from University of California, Los Angeles with a B.A. in Political Science. The main focus of his education was on electoral communications and strategy. Over the years Mr. Daley has work on various statewide and congressional campaigns, as well as serving on a local planning commission. While at UniversalGiving, he has been enthralled by working and learning from a fascinating team of dedicated people determined on making a positive impact in our world. In a few years, Mr. Daley hopes to attend business school

[Mr. K]

"I spent my time at UCLA preparing for the outside world. I had internships in congressional offices, political action committees, non-profits and even as a personal intern to a successful venture capitalist. These weren't the run-of-the-mill office internships; I worked in marketing, press relations, research and analysis. Additionally, the mayor and city council of my hometown appointed me to serve on two citywide governing bodies, the planning commission and the open government commission."

I would not ever hire anyone with that kind of background. Who wants a worker whose major work experience is in office politics and backstabbing? We have hired some of these '20 and out' government workers before- they are untrainable. They think work consists of teaming up with your co-workers and forming alliances to plot against other co-workers, like on "Survivor" - not one of them has a work ethic to PRODUCE A GOOD PRODUCT. They think money comes automagically no matter what you do.

[rbg81]

They can always double down and go to grad school. If they keep going to school, eventually they’ll learn something....right?

[Mr. K]

I saw that too- this kid has flaming libtard written all over him and his resume.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Boy, if the SHTF, he’s got “long pig” written all over him.

[FreeDeerHawk]

Well,the illegals couldn’t take those jobs if the companies didn’t shut out American workers in favor of the illegals. It is frightening.

[JPG]

What they in their socialist dream world are looking for: WANTED. Recent college graduate (any discipline accepted) to sit and gossip in prestigious mid-town office for six hours a day. Frequent breaks and company paid two hour lunch. Starting salary, $165,000. One month paid vacation after two months employment. Company car provided. $2,000 clothing allowance per month. Full medical, dental, profit sharing and company 401K. This position guarantees lifetime employment. Fax resume to 1-800-YOU-WISH.

[Future Snake Eater]

Is that not what we were sold by the older generation? “Go to college so you can get a good job.” Now people graduate from college, eyeball-deep in debt b/c is ALWAYS costs a fortune, now there are no good jobs, there aren’t really even any jobs.

You can sniff in contempt at the lazy kids, but the lying adults have their part to play, too.

[FreeDeerHawk]

One of things that gets me is that I wonder how illegal aliens,especially those from the lowest economic classes in poor nations can qualify for those jobs.

I remember when one needed training and experience to get such jobs. It perplexes me when supposedly very poor people from backrounds which supposedly never gave them the training and experience for such jobs can get them. Why were the standards so much more strict for us Americans to get such jobs?

For that matter,it even seems to apply to people who came here from other countries legally. The standards for hiring are not the same,it seems to me. Am I wrong?

[Blue Ink]

I run into these entitled liberal arts grad darlings every day in the TV business. They’re all sore because they have to start at the bottom, answering phones and running errands unless they’re somebody’s kid. But if you’re not lame enough to saddle yourself with a $150,000 student loan, you can survive.

That UCLA poly sci grad in the article sounds like an insufferable little resume-padding careerist. I bet he never went to a Bruin game or barfed at a frat party. But he’s still NOT a professional, he’s a working stiff with a BA, and he’s trying to vault over the grown-ups without paying his dues. Oh, the mayor appointed you to a commission when you were an intern?! How adorable. Right this way — take a chair at the table of experienced professionals who’ve been at it twenty years.

If you want to start at the top, learn a vocation like auto mechanics or a profession like medicine. And don’t borrow money to go to school, go to a state college. Or take an honest job flipping burgers (I don’t believe for one second college grads are applying for those jobs). Just please stop whining.

[wally_bert]

Throw in “be pushed out for an AA person that has a quarter of the experience”.

[FreeDeerHawk]

I agree with most of you say,yet how can illegal aliens from impoverished backrounds be more skilled in those trades generally than Americans? I don’t believe that.

[wally_bert]

I was a little tech school graduate with a TV production diploma and some other extra education after getting out of the service. A month after graduation I got a job (entry level) at the PBS network headquarters here in SC. As far as anyone could tell I was the first one out of that program to go there out of school and maybe 3 known to have ever worked there.

After 18 months I got promoted to an Engineer II and after a long cold war with a jerk tech manager, Engineer III. The only difference between a II / III is a little more money and an extra I. I was promoted over a few 4 year people who had been there longer.

I switched over to computers a few years ago as I saw regular TV jobs in my part of the world dwindle more and more. Every now and then I can pick up a small PA gig. I tried for ages to get in the higher end gigs but I was never a part of the “elite” crowd. Wrong background, wrong school, wrong family, wrong fill in the blank attribute.

I keep my eye open but see very few if any technical jobs. Economics and technology have taken their toll on that field.

My cohorts at the PBS network here are nervous about Nikki and her plans to cut it and gut it. It is a relic and really not necessary any more. I could write a book on the chronic waste and mismanagement there.

[FreeDeerHawk]

Oh gosh, it sounds to me like John McCain saying that Americans couldn’t pick lettuce for $50 an hour. I don’t believe any of it. Sorry.

[Blue Ink]

“After 18 months I got promoted to an Engineer II and after a long cold war with a jerk tech manager, Engineer III... I was promoted over a few 4 year people who had been there longer.”

I’ve got no beef with people who’ve demonstrated real skill, especially in a tech field, getting promoted over someone with more longevity. But what I’ve seen over and over in my field (TV writing) are college grad rookies with no skills yet who think having a degree means never having to fetch coffee.

The Ivy grads are the WORST. Jeff Zucker, who went from gofer to executive producer of the Today Show when he was only 26, ruined it for the rest of them (before he ruined NBC). Now they all burst into tears if you ask them to make a copy, both because it’s so demeaning and because they don’t have the patience or smarts to figure out how the copier works.

[BenKenobi]

Sadly the recession doesn’t just hit the Obama voters. It hits all of us.

[BenKenobi]

Yeah, just like those boomers worked their butts off. ;)

At least be honest here. We aren’t all slackers.