There have always been certain realities that defined American life and belief, like: we didn't torture people, we cared about our neighbors, we were generous to those less fortunate than ourselves, and we didn't start wars. They weren't all necessarily historically true but we all agreed that at the least they were desirable goals. There is one tenet, though, that we never thought would - or could - change: that a college education was the key to a better life. It always had been. We believed, without thinking about it much, it always would be. How could it not be? That would be like the sun suddenly rising in the west.
Well, after two Bush terms the damage that's been done is so severe that now a college degree is all but worthless.
A four-year college degree, seen for generations as a ticket to a better life, is no longer enough to guarantee a steadily rising paycheck.
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For decades, the typical college graduate's wage rose well above inflation. But no longer. In the economic expansion that began in 2001 and now appears to be ending, the inflation-adjusted wages of the majority of U.S. workers didn't grow, even among those who went to college. The government's statistical snapshots show the typical weekly salary of a worker with a bachelor's degree, adjusted for inflation, didn't rise last year from 2006 and was 1.7% below the 2001 level.
College-educated workers are more plentiful, more commoditized and more subject to the downsizings that used to be the purview of blue-collar workers only. What employers want from workers nowadays is more narrow, more abstract and less easily learned in college.
(emphasis added)
What employers want from workers nowadays is silent obedience, 24/7 availability for work, and no expectation by any employee that they have the right to either a personal life or a living wage. Oh, yes, and they want workers never to allow that filthy word "union" to cross their teeth.
What has brought this about is, not surprisingly, the conscienceless corporate greed that created the concept of globalization. Frankfurter's "Race to the Bottom" is now planetary.
Globalization and technology have altered the types of skills that earn workers a premium wage; in many cases, those skills aren't learned in college classrooms. And compared with previous generations, today's college graduates are far more likely to be competing against educated immigrants and educated workers employed overseas.
Mix in the new Class System where the middle class is a memory and society has been reduced to haves and have-nots, and you've got a situation where your schooling is less important than, say, who you went to school with or which school you went to. We have created the society that our parents were afraid we were creating - a feudal society of empty suits lording it over everybody else and where who you know is more important than what you know.
The issue isn't a lack of economic growth, which was solid for most of the 2000s. Rather, it's that the fruits of growth are flowing largely to "a relatively small group of people who have a particular set of skills and assets that lots of other people don't," says Mr. Bernstein. And that "doesn't necessarily have that much to do with your education." In short, a college degree is often necessary, but not sufficient, to get a paycheck that beats inflation.
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Harvard University economists Lawrence Katz and Claudia Goldin argue that in the 1990s, it became easier for firms to do overseas, or with computers at home, the work once done by "lower-end college graduates in middle management and certain professional positions." This depressed these workers' wages, but made college graduates whose work was more abstract and creative more productive, driving their salaries up.
Indeed, salaries have seen extraordinary growth among a small number of highly paid individuals in the financial sector -- such as fund management, investment banking and corporate law -- which, until the credit crisis hit a year ago, had benefited both from the buoyant financial environment and the globalization of finance, in which the U.S. remains a leader.
(emphasis added)
I don't want to rain on their parade but take a look at that list and tell me what those degrees have in common. Clearly it isn't just any post-graduate course that's of interest to the money. The money is only interested in paying big $$$ to those who can help them make even Bigger $$$. Teachers? College professors? Social workers? Nurses? Sorry, no. PhD or not. Pay cut, pay cut, pay cut.
Apparently if you want to make a living now, study banking and international finance. Anything else is a waste of time in BushAmerica.
And the professions where people are making more money are, curiously, the same professions where you need an "in" to get even an entry-level job.
Posted by: Norwegianity | July 17, 2008 at 06:19 PM