According to this WSJ story the job outlook for new college grads this spring isn’t very promising.
One implication is that this year there will be an even greater “overflow” of people with BA degrees into parts of the labor force where the jobs don’t call for any particular academic studies than usual.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics keeps track of the educational credentials of people in a vast array of jobs. We find that large percentages of people aged 25-44 who are doing work that can be learned with only on-the-job training have college degrees. (Unfortunately, we don’t know what sorts of degrees.) For example, 55 percent of the people working in employment recruiting and placement have bachelors degrees; 45 percent of insurance sales people; 58 percent of probation officers; 33 percent of dental hygienists; 54 percent of fashion designers; 38 percent of court reporters; 47 percent of fitness and aerobics instructors; 32 percent of massage therapists, and 42 percent of purchasing agents.
Many of those people might have had a course or two that was in some way relevant to the job fields they’re in, but spending the time and money to get a BA is terribly inefficient. It’s rather like ordering a huge beef burrito and when you eat it, you find that there are a few morsels of low-grade beef in the middle, surrounded by a bit of cheese, sauce, lots of shredded lettuce, and the tortilla. Not a good deal.
