I'm going to guess that's a significant portion.
Next, if you consider how traditional employment works, how many immediately go from college graduation into a mid to high level job?
That was few and far between after I left college, many would pick up a lower level job in a company they wanted to advance into. Graduate engineers would pick up even shipping or clerical jobs at an engineering firm as the first step in their career. I, like a few of my peers, worked through college and left with no debt.
My father started as a salesman for a radio station before advancing into his desired position of being a radio disk jockey. Of course, he worked through college to pay for it as well.
A friend's son just exited college with an engineering degree. He also is leaving with no student loans, as he enjoyed a half scholarship, had some savings, and worked part time. He also would fall under this survey as being ‘chronically underemployed’ as he's working as a runner in an architectural firm. I don't expect him to stay in that position for very long; his work is already award winning.
Wouldn't the real fantasy be someone walking out of college and immediately going into a position of responsibility?
As the article points out, in an off-hand way, the real problem is former students who haven't been working, who got loans to pay for college and for them to not work, and those bills are starting to come due. And I'm going to bet that likely 50% have no job at all after 6 months when that first bill arrives, because ‘they haven't found a good enough job yet.’
You are describing the old economy, where people worked their way up through a company. The world hasn’t worked that way in 20 years.
We’re in the gig economy.
Companies don’t want to develop employees. They want to hire someone to solve a problem they have today, and when the problem is solved they let the person go.
Contract work, H1-B visa, layoffs, and job hopping are today’s career reality. Companies have no loyalty to employees, and employees have no loyalty to companies.
The most common way for people to get a pay raise today is to find a job at a different company.
“Wouldn’t the real fantasy be someone walking out of college and immediately going into a position of responsibility?”
Way back in 1971 I tried working in an employment agency. I clearly recall placing one 27 year old graduate who had a Bachelor degree in Banking, Finance and Real Estate. He started at $9000. a year at a time when that would buy two very nice new cars or three low end cars. In addition he was furnished a company car, a generous expense account, nearly free health insurance which covered him one hundred percent after meeting a tiny deductible and a fantastic package of other benefits. The equivalent today would be well into six figures annually if you consider how expensive medical benefits are now. I don’t know of anyone getting that kind of starting salary now.
The dot com era set that expectation - and Americans still have yet to let go of it.