The Education Of The Graduate Labour Market

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).

In the essay "College Graduates Fare Well, Even through Recession," author Catherine Rampell provides data that detail why a college education is worth the investment. She shares with us a positive perspective on the employment prospects after graduating from a 4-year institution. Rampell states that "there are more employed college graduates today than employed high school graduates and high school dropouts put together" (pg. 678). This is seemingly good news

Employability is a key determination around the way the world works. It ‘is about being capable of getting and keeping fulfilling work’ where people can move through jobs in different markets maintaining employment. (Hillage & Pollard, 1998, p. 2) In 2009 a survey completed by the Confederation of British Industry concluded that ‘employability skills was one of the most important factors when recruiting graduates.’ (CBI, 2009, p.11) Through universities, colleges, employers and the government focusing on implementing employability in to core education this not only helps with student engagement around the idea of employment (HEFCE, 2011, p.5), but also helps to ‘foster and develop a culture of progression and life-long learning’ (Cole & Tibby, 2013, p.5).

Getting a “good” job is not straightforward as it used to be. In past generations, someone in an entry-level position could work their way up the ladder simply through hard work and determination; whether or not one had credentials or a diploma mattered very little. This is not the case today. Higher education is now critical to obtaining a better job because the demand for skilled labor is rising. For this reason, the value that a degree offers is higher than that of one’s actual intelligence or merit. Furthermore, workers without college degrees will quickly be outpaced in position and salary by degree

Moreover, employers featured in the survey claimed that academic results of a graduate is not an effective indicator of his or her competencies in the job when compared to work experience performance(Highfliers Research Ltd,2012). Another report also revealed that neither GPA nor major of study was related to the salary level of graduates at the entry-level of employment, but only work experience resulted in obvious disparity in salary level(Gault et al,2000).

Mary Flannery, a senior writer for the National Education Association, shows in her article that, “about 40 percent of young Americans (ages 34 and under) had attained “tertiary,” or higher education, in 2009. And if that figure sounds familiar, it’s because it hasn’t changed in decades.” With the rapid rates of European and Asian countries,

stopped their formal education after graduating from high school. As the demand for degrees has

In today’s job market one prominent correlate for attaining professional careers is attaining a higher education. According to the National Center for Education Statistics from 2012, 88% of all males between the ages of 20-64 who earn at least a bachelor’s degree, are able to obtain a job, compared to women ages 20-64, where only 81% of women are able to obtain jobs (National Center for Education Statistics, 2013). This statistic specifically shows how women as a whole are actually getting more college degrees

As more and more students graduate, they begin to look for work; hoping for a job capable of paying off their debts and making their chosen degree worthwhile. In America, we are running into the problem of a lack of jobs, requiring a degree or not. From service-jobs to white-collar jobs, "...more than 14 million jobs are vulnerable to being outsources offshore." (Roberts).College graduates that are native to America are struggling to find work due to the outsourcing of jobs, in turn damaging our economy.

Although the future of higher education may seem trivial, it is in fact crucial in terms of today’s concern over unemployment. With the way the job force has changed due to the fall of the economy, we can no longer rely on our trade or jobs that were lucrative and provided enough income for our families in the past. As it has been proven at Evergreen State College, “despite the university’s reputation as a countercultural bastion, 82 percent of its graduates found full-time employment within a year, and 93 percent of those who applied got into graduate schools” (188). This idea alone proves the fact that one has a larger change of attaining a job, if one has a college education. The notion of having a better likelihood of obtaining a job, or broadening my options, puts my mind at ease about unemployment.

New graduates are facing tough competitions in the job market. First, some of the low skills jobs are being replaced with automation tasks. Second, many IT jobs are moved to lower cost countries. Many new college graduates continue to struggle to find a job. Although the national rate of unemployment is under 5 percent, the job market is saturated with highly educated grads with little to no work experience. Many baby boomers continue to work past their retirement age due to their financial difficulties. The limited job opportunities that are offered to new graduates are diminishing. Employers strategically hire prospects candidates at lower wages.

In the competitive world today, having a college degree might not benefit a student as much as before, thus opening up numerous questions concerning its necessity. Not only is the number of students desperately trying to enroll in college increasing, but the tuition shoots up as well. However, will college enrollment necessarily be enough to increase your chances of attaining job security? The answer is hotly debated amongst adults and students alike, which opens up the second option for students, that is, joining the work force. Although this option is generally shunned by the new generation, the tough economy and slow restoration makes it quite a desirable choice at the moment. Joining the work force is a hard decision to make as it

In today’s’ society, success is often measured by academic and professional achievement. Higher education provides more opportunity and freedom. Statistics verify that generally, the more highly educated have higher earnings and there is a significant difference between wages earned by employees with College degrees and those without. Higher education is often perceived as a means to a ‘better life’ .Though many recognize the benefits of higher education, the rate at which students leave in their first year of College is still very high. Students leave their first year of College for

Furthermore, Nicholson and West (1990) argue that ‘in spite of research showing that moving from education to employment is typically not traumatic, it is probably the case that, on average, young people making a first transition from (full-time) education to (full-time) employment will have more learning to do than more experienced job-changers.’ (Arnold, 1997 pp.167-168.) Therefore, they have developed a ‘Transition Cycle,’ which involves four phases:

In Robert E. Sullivan, Jr.’s “Greatly Reduced Expectations”, Sullivan discusses the lack of employment available to college graduates. Throughout the essay, testimonials are given by four college graduates who expected more opportunity when they graduated with a four year degree. I sympathize with these men and women who are working in jobs that do promote their ability.