Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I think that is a thing that we need to realize. We can't just major in what is popular. If we want to, it better be something that we actually like to do. Think about it, why would you want to be an engineer if you either hate math or hate engineering? For the money, that isn't a good enough excuse. You'll end up like this poster's sister, burnt out. Let me remind you, burned out employees are less productive than energized employees.
I think the problem is ...
Younger persons entering the workforce have a very romanticized view of 9-5 work. They think it will be exciting, varied, and present various opportunities for upward growth without considering the stress and work hours.
When I look at my varied history of jobs, ten years ago I was working a job I hated and wanted to quit (and I did). Now, after 10 years of experience and other jobs, I think to myself that job wasn't so bad after all. Could I do that job for the next 10 years given that the pay was decent? I think so.
Perspective changes when you get older and find out what jobs are really all about.
Younger persons entering the workforce have a very romanticized view of 9-5 work. They think it will be exciting, varied, and present various opportunities for upward growth without considering the stress and work hours.
When I look at my varied history of jobs, ten years ago I was working a job I hated and wanted to quit (and I did). Now, after 10 years of experience and other jobs, I think to myself that job wasn't so bad after all. Could I do that job for the next 10 years given that the pay was decent? I think so.
Perspective changes when you get older and find out what jobs are really all about.
And that goes with the perspective that many have installed and in-grained in our heads. Think about it, many have prospered during the "do what you love" era that existed while the later boomers and the early to mid gen Xers entered the workforce. This was true until 2007 (though to a lesser extent after 2000 as starting wages for grads slowed down.) I think the issue is many of the "logical" things ingrained into the minds of millennials like myself is pure garbage but the sad part is we are at a point where it will take a LONG time to remove this learned behavior.
Not hard numbers for the rates but this New York Times article from 2011 shows the beginning of the underemployment trend as of 2009. Here is an excerpt from it.
For 2012 it was listed that the average wage was 44K for those that already found jobs by September according to Aol.
I cannot find concrete data for the real wages (mainly cause data can be compiled yearly, every few years or fewer.) The fact is wages are down pretty much across the board. Also many sources have stated that lower wages for college graduates like myself and the sister of the poster above this post, will likely have lower lifetime earnings. I don't need to cite that because that is something many different economists have mentioned about people who start careers during recessions and/or recoveries.
That is because you look at the big picture where it can include graduates who don't use loans for a form of financial aid.
As I said the data I have includes two years of your underemployment. 2009-2010. Underemploymet will show in wages despite if you choode to believe it or not. The big picture to the economy would be to not ignore the college grads who are making 45k and who have no loans. That is plenty of money stimulating the economy.
I think if you really need to do something for your day job that your thoroughly enjoy, then settle for no less than wherever your passions lie.
However, for people who are concerned about job security and a steady income, it's not that simple. TBH, Audiology and Speech Therapy sound like two pretty relatively low stress jobs with a decent job outlook. How is being a sales clerk any better?
I have resigned myself to the fact that I will never love my day job, so it just has to be OK and pay OK.
Many people don't have something they'd love to do that is attainable. There is nothing wrong working a job you just "like" that supports you or your family. I think some waste a lot of time searching for what they love while working minimum wage. There was a career I thought if love so I started to work part-time in it while I kept my job I hated that covered the bills. I ended up finding a job in neither of those fields that I enjoy.
As I said the data I have includes two years of your underemployment. 2009-2010. Underemploymet will show in wages despite if you choode to believe it or not. The big picture to the economy would be to not ignore the college grads who are making 45k and who have no loans. That is plenty of money stimulating the economy.
And we must realize that the 2009-2010 data does not include too many graduates post recession. It would not be until the 2011 data would show that. To compare graduates who had a job a year before the recession started to the recession is flawed. Now yes, the post 2011 data is hard to find. When the 2011, 2012, 2013 and even 2014 data comes out we will not know how insignificant underemployment is to the 25-34 year olds. Though (as I said earlier) many experts don't think that underemployment ends up hurting wages over a lifetime because of the lower starting point (or midpoint.)
And that goes with the perspective that many have installed and in-grained in our heads. Think about it, many have prospered during the "do what you love" era that existed while the later boomers and the early to mid gen Xers entered the workforce. This was true until 2007 (though to a lesser extent after 2000 as starting wages for grads slowed down.) I think the issue is many of the "logical" things ingrained into the minds of millennials like myself is pure garbage but the sad part is we are at a point where it will take a LONG time to remove this learned behavior.
I'm at the tail end of Gen X and I actually think that people from generations previous were much less inclined to chase their dreams.
You had people that were happy working 30 years in a butcher shop or button factory. Nowadays, even somebody without a college degree believes they are entitled to a six figure salary owning their own business or learning a little code and doing webpage design or software engineering.
Of course, majoring in what you like is different than do what you love. Back then, a college degree meant more than likely a white collar job. Nowadays, you need the specific major because the market is oversaturated.
No one is being scammed.
People willingly take out those loans, and they know the terms when they do so.
What if the colleges are publishing blatantly false and fraudulently misleading employment statistics? Is that not a scam? Several for-profits and law schools have been sued over this sort of thing.
What if the colleges are publishing blatantly false and fraudulently misleading employment statistics? Is that not a scam? Several for-profits and law schools have been sued over this sort of thing.
Do you have a tangible example of where this is happening? Going to a for-profit, alone, is scamming yourself into thinking you're getting a higher education.
It should be noted that according to one recent study, 48% of all employed college grads are working in jobs that require less than a college education. (And that only counts "employed" college grads, not those who are unemployed, involuntarily-in-graduate school (because they could not find college-education-requiring jobs with the degrees they had), who are stay-at-home parents, or involuntarily-early retired.) These links are essential reading for anyone interested in this subject:
It should be noted that according to one recent study, 48% of all employed college grads are working in jobs that require less than a college education. (And that only counts "employed" college grads, not those who are unemployed, involuntarily-in-graduate school (because they could not find college-education-requiring jobs with the degrees they had), who are stay-at-home parents, or involuntarily-early retired.) These links are essential reading for anyone interested in this subject:
Not a surprising statistic considering the large number of uneducated college graduates we have.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
