College Unemployment Analysis

In today’s society, a college degree has become a requirement in order to obtain a well occupied profession. Prior to the recession, which the study defines as the period between December 2007 and June 2009, bachelor's graduates were already more likely to be employed than were associate degree holders, who were more likely to be employed than those without any postsecondary degree. After the recession, employment of college graduates dropped 7 percent, while associate degree holders experienced an 11 percent drop, and employment of high school graduates fell 16 percent. The percent of people excluded from the workforce, meaning they were seeking work but couldn’t find it, rose 31 percent for college graduates, 37 percent for high school graduates, and 50 percent for associate degree graduates, though associate degree holders were still excluded at a lower rate than high school graduates (Tilsley, 2013).

To discuss the value of liberal education, there should be a mutual understanding that investing in college means to invest in oneself. Furthermore, while some consider this investment to be a critical stepping stone to success, others dismiss it, explaining that school simply cannot prepare someone for the “real world.” Sanford J. Ungar and Robert Reich explore both of these subjective values in their essays “The New Liberal Arts” and “College is a Ludicrous Waste of Money.” Ungar, the president of Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland, discusses why a liberal education should be sought after; he does so by introducing common misconceptions about liberal arts and, using argumentative persuasion, proves their insignificance. On the other hand, Reich, the former secretary of labor, argues against the conventional belief of college being the only road to financial wellbeing; rather, he explains why a two-year education may better accommodate many college students, especially those in need of immediate work or those that simply cannot afford a four-year education. In all, although both Reich and Ungar generally discuss liberal education, their perspectives differ when it comes to its practicality in the current economy. Also, to express their different views about liberal arts, the authors use contrasting tones to present their ideas to different intended audiences.

“The New Liberal Arts” is an article written by Sanford J. Ungar, who is a president of Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland. In the beginning of his article, Ungar wrote, “Hard economic times inevitably bring scrutiny of all accepted ideals and institutions, and this time around the liberal arts education has been especially hard hit.” In other words, Ungar means that recent economic recessions have made a huge impact on what people think of going for a liberal arts degree. In his essay, Ungar lists seven misperceptions and how he reacts to them. The most common misperception that Ungar identified is that liberal arts degrees are no longer affordable. The cost for liberal arts education is very expensive while

There are three different kinds of unemployment that affect our economy: frictional, cyclical and structural. Frictional unemployment occurs when there is a time laps between being employed and looking for work. This term can also be referred to as search employment because it is the time spent searching for a place of employment. One example of this would be a student taking time off of work to finish college and get a 4 year degree. Usually, it takes a lot of time and dedication to finish the last years of school, so some students tend to go to school full time and work part time or not at all. This type of unemployment is also classified as voluntary unemployment because this period of unemployment is at the discretion of the person to some small degree. Secondly, there is cyclical unemployment which changes depending on the business need; for example, workers are laid off when business is bad - then

Financially being able to afford life after college is a priority that many students carefully plan for. The only issue both sides do agree on is that the majors most student's are currently studying will not have a high demand for job placement once they graduate with their degrees. The two communities say the majors that most student's study will not provide them with the economic resources they may need to be sufficient during post college. In 2007 unemployment rates for student's who had a bachelor's degree was 4.9 percent and 8.5 percent for people with associates degrees and high school diplomas (Billitteri). Providing proof that the job market and the majors that students were choosing did not coincide with one another, resulting in the two communities claiming money may have been wasted in order to educate the unemployed, also assuming the money invested did not go to proper use.

Some folks might say unemployment is the state of not possessing an occupation; well that is not the complete case here. Unemployment is the position of being without any work and constantly trying to find an occupation in the past four weeks. However, people who have been unemployed for 15 weeks or longer are also considered a huge part of the total amount of employed workers (Khan). Furthermore, waiting workers that have been fired or laid after submitting their resumes to possible companies are also considered unemployed. Every single day, it is becoming more difficult for unemployed people to find a career in their futures. In order to find the unemployment rate, which is described as a percentage where it can be calculated by dividing the total amount of people out of labor and presently looking for an occupation by the total amount of workers in the labor force. Furthermore, according to an article relating to unemployment, the unemployment rate has been increasing with people losing their jobs on a daily basis (Zuckerman). More part time jobs are created while the amount of full time jobs is decreasing in the United States. Last but not least, the unemployment rate clearly provides information about the current society and economy, whether it is the current amount of people unemployed or the time the out of labor people have been looking for work, by helping the government to make sensible

With there being a variety of labels for unemployment I believe that frictional unemployment best describes what the U.S. is experiencing. Frictional unemployment is can be viewed as more of a desirable state of unemployment because it was chosen by the person themselves. Frictional unemployment typically doesn’t last for long periods of time, but instead a short period of time. The individuals that fall under this type of employment are normally waiting for accept a job soon or they could be searching for a job. It may not sound like the best decision to make, but it has been found that most individuals move to better positions. This type of employment benefits both the employee and the employer because the employer has a qualified worker

Avoiding a college education can majorly affect oneselves prosperity in the overall business place. It has been discovered that people with a college education have less difficulty finding work than those who don't have one. Around 90% of college students find jobs in less than 3 months after they graduate (Stephens). This creates the idea of job security. Students with only a high school diploma on average have an 8% higher unemployment rate than those with a college education.

For young college graduates, the current unemployment rate is currently 7.2 percent (compared with 5.5 percent in 2007), and the underemployment rate is 14.9 percent (compared with 9.6 percent in 2007)

As previously mentioned, a college’s main purpose is to score you job and according to Mr. Leonhardt they do just that; “College graduates, though hardly immune from the downturn, are also far less likely to be unemployed… Construction workers, police officers, plumbers, retail salespeople and secretaries, among others, make significantly more with a degree than without one. Why? Education helps people do higher-skilled work, get jobs with better paying companies or open their own businesses.” So not only does a college education statically give graduates the advantage in the job market, but according to PS&DT the majority of those graduates were satisfied with their investment; “Among survey respondents who graduated from a four-year college, 74% say their college education was very useful in helping them grow intellectually; 69% say it was very useful in helping them grow and mature as a person; and 55% say it was very useful in helping them prepare for a job or career.”

The Pew Research Center conducted a study that proved that “Only 3.8% of those with a bachelor’s degree were unemployed in 2012, compared with 8.1% of those with an associate’s degree or some college and 12.2% of those with a high school diploma.” I believe having a lower unemployment rate involved with a job increases your job satisfaction because it gives the employee a piece of mind. To add, “Among workers between the ages of 30 to 45, 51% of those with at least a bachelor’s degree reported being very satisfied with their work, compared to only 42% of those without a high school diploma, and 47% of those with a high school diploma” (Mikey Rox). Having this information present allows the graduate to see how the percent of job satisfaction has a direct impact on the level of education the graduate holds.

Unemployment rate- The unemployment rate is a percentage of people without a job who are actively looking for a job. This does not include stay at home parents or anyone not looking for a job. It has to be someone looking and willing to work.

Having a college education not only increases the chance of getting a job but also broadens the choices of what jobs and opens the door to ample work opportunities. As opposed to those with a degree, people without a degree are limited as to what positions they qualify for and instead have to rely on their prior work experience for employment. One main reason why people should further their education is so that they are able to determine their interests in life and develop a career around what they have a passion for. People with an educational background beyond that of high school are much more marketable to employers scouting for prospective employees. College graduates have opportunities for advancing within their workplace, and in turn earning more than they initially started with. On the other hand, college is not

Unemployment in Economics occurs when people are without a job while actively searching for one. In the United Kingdom, the unemployment rate measures the number of people actively looking for a job as a percentage of the labour force (ONS 2015). Unemployment is a big issue for moderns economics.

Unemployment describes the state of a worker who is able and willing to take work but cannot find it. As indicated by the unemployment rate and other yardsticks, unemployment is an important measure of the economy's strength. A high unemployment rate generally indicates an economy in recession with few job opportunities, while a low unemployment rate points to an economy running at or near full throttle. A low unemployment rate has its downside for stock prices, however: it may be a harbinger of higher interest rates that will slow both an overheated economy and the rise in equity values. In recent years, there's been much controversy over what the true level of U.S. unemployment is. Some economists have relied more on the government's "establishment survey data," which emphasizes the number of new jobs, rather than "household survey data," which is used to compute the headline unemployment rate. Moreover, new technologies and lifestyle changes, which are increasing the number of temporary, contract, and self-employed workers, are making it more difficult to define what unemployment is.