December 28, 2010
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Forget about the Mexicans and Get an Education
Do you realize that the unemployment rate is only 5.1% if you have a college education? In fact, the average unemployment rate for college graduates for the year is something around 4.6%.
But the unemployment rate for those who just have a high school diploma is 10%. The unemployment rate for those who did not graduate from college is 15%. (All of these numbers are based on being 25 or older). Here is the link: Link
Do you realize that over 2.4 million jobs were created by U.S. companies this year? Unfortunately 1.4 million of those jobs went overseas. Here is the link: Link
It is not just because it is cheaper to get employees overseas. It is because often they are just more qualified.
Bill Gates indicated there were not enough qualified people in the U.S. to fill positions at Microsoft. Here is the link: Link
So don’t worry about the Mexicans taking your job.
Perhaps the real answer to the unemployment problem is not the government, President Obama or the Mexicans.
Perhaps we just need to go to college and study real hard and get degrees in areas that matter to potential employers.
Comments (68)
This is going to start something.
Like maybe a fight.
Education, fuck yes.
Mexicans are sexy.
And it needs to be a real education, not this dumbed down “we can’t fail students because it will hurt their self esteem” crap.
I never understood people that didn’t want to go to college. I understand not being able to afford, but the idea of not going to college
just because
never computed in my head.
I think one of the problems though is college is too expensive. There are some things I believe people have a right to and education is one of them. Maybe public colleges should allow core curriculum’s to be free? Or at least have core curriculum classes be considerably less expensive? Maybe then more people would be interested in getting an education.
This reminds me of an episode of the office where Michael had previously promised an entire elementary school class to pay for their college education entirely. At the end of the episode while he couldn’t pay for their colleges he was happy to learn that the promise of being able to go to school without worry caused the collective GPA and desire to receive higher education from the class was raised. I’m not sure if this has been tested and I’m too lazy to pick it up, but I believe if we could promise kids and parents an easier time on paying for college more students would perform better in school and strive for a college degree.
The key is “in an area that matters to employers”. Being the zillionth history major isn’t going to cut it. Make the most of that education in the right direction.
What you have just demonstrated is that Obama and the liberals hate the little guy. In a healthy economy everyone who wants work can find it regardless of their education level. That’s the American Way.
Also, tuition is skyrocketing like every other thing in our collapsing economy so even a college education is becoming beyond reach. We can thank Obama and the liberals for that too.
“It is because often they are just more qualified?” Or is it because they are so cheap?
And you call yourself a ‘Theologian’?….You really need a name change.
I never wanted to go to college…I am perfectly happy with my choice to join the Marine Corps. The training I got there was better than I could have gotten for my job if I would have gone to college. The bonus is that when I was ready to take college classes, they were all paid for by my GIB
Wow. This is a well thought-out, well-written and thoughtful entry. Did you go to college? lol.
Seriously, though, you’re going to make some people really mad with this one.
@MangoWOW - I didn’t want to go to college; I joined the military instead.
Why? Because I think that experience is more important than education. Less than 10% of people with a college degree ever end up in the field for which they are educated. Nowadays, even having a degree isn’t really enough anymore; you need to have at least a Bachelors, and, like squeakysoul said, it can’t be just any degree, it has to be in the “right” field. But really, unless you want to get into a licensed profession like law or medicine, what do you learn in college that you can’t learn on-the-job and in private study? My particular job is highly specialized; yet all the schooling for it took less than a year, and I can still make $80,000 just starting out in the civilian world. “Higher education” (a contradiction in terms if ever I’ve heard one) just simply isn’t for everyone. It’s not necessarily a commentary on their intelligence.
Oh, and as for a “right” to education, that’s right up there with a “right” to health care: You’re implying that every individual has the right to be educated by an educator — that each individual has the right to a portion of an educator’s life — regardless of whether or not the educator can be compensated. I’m pretty sure that most teachers would disagree with that concept.
@GermanWrench - I wasn’t talking about the military. I’m talking about people who are content working retail as a cashier the rest of their lives. The military falls under higher education for me. I just can’t understand people who’d think “Yea I can continue working at Victoria’s Secret. I won’t even try to take business classes and try to further myself.
And blah blah blah, they’d get paid by the government. Thats called compensation.
all right so college may not be for everyone
but thank youuuu for writing this post.
@MangoWOW - community colleges are usually pretty affordable! not free, but that’s a long time coming. :/ most people have access to them, though. i agree with your point of view.
Good post! I agree.
The “nobody is qualified so we need to ship jobs overseas” excuse is bullshit. There are millions of people in this nation who are qualified, who have the education, who have the experience that are unemployed because the companies want the perfect candidate for little money.
So people who never went to college are doing better than people who did some college but didn’t graduate? That’s interesting.
@MangoWOW - “And blah blah blah, they’d get paid by the government. Thats called compensation.”
Where does the government get its money? From the people — many of whom are attempting to pay for their own college education, not to mention houses and cars and children and other things that are more important to them than paying for Joe Schmuckatelli to take lesbian animal sexuality 101.
So-called “menial” jobs exist for a reason, and people need to fill them. I’d rather they be filled by people who are happy to work them, than by bitter self-engendered assholes who are angry that the government isn’t doing more to shove education down their throats. Education should be desired and earned.
@Losertastic - Thanks. That’s kind of what I’m talking about. Community colleges are a good fallback for students that can’t afford a
regular
university. It’s too bad they have a negative reputation.
@GermanWrench - Yes. The people are still paying the teachers. Glad to see you got it.
Listen, I can see what you’re doing. You want to start an argument about a totally new topic. I couldn’t care less about your opinion right now. I’m too tired to argue. Stick to the subject of the post please.
bill gates doesn’t have a college degree.. nor do I and I employ 10 people.
This got real stupid, real fast.
@MangoWOW - It’s all the same argument. People don’t have a right to an education; it stands to reason that many people will choose not to avail themselves of the opportunity to attain one. Only when employers stop blowing up the education bubble will the trend swing the other way. Otherwise, we’ll reach a point where even a Bachelors degree won’t mean anything and everyone will be expected to have a Masters. The problem is bigger than merely “People aren’t getting degrees.” It’s a matter of what employers actually NEED, and what they expect. Right now, there’s a disconnect that exists needlessly.
@GermanWrench - Whether or not people have the right to an education IS NOT the question in the post.
This is my last response. I’ve seen you trolling before.
Indeed.
I have three degrees, one a teaching degree, and it is horrible out there in the job market for teachers right now – compensation is terrible, positions are being cut everywhere, classrooms are overcrowded, the state owes the schools in our state SO much money…it’s made me wish I had gone into something else entirely – I know plenty of people who are making great money doing things that didn’t require a degree. Teaching used to be an honorable, esteemed, and reasonably well-compensated profession; now it’s impossible to even make ends meet and raise a family on a teacher’s salary, especially as a single parent. I know SO many unemployed teachers who are working as cashiers, etc, because they can’t find teaching jobs. Very sad.
@MangoWOW - That’s odd, since I haven’t been around for months.
Also, you’re the one who brought up the “right” to an education, not me. I’m merely pointing out that that mentality is part of the problem. When employers start considering experience and hard work more important than a college degree, only then will the tide turn. To simply say that everyone should have a degree, and that those who don’t are dumb and lazy, is to ignore the other other side of the problem.
@LoBornlytesThoughtPalace - Word.
College is just too damn expensive for many people. Average annual tuition for a university in CA is around $30,000.
If I could recommend this 17 times I would.
Good thinking. I’m on it.
totally agreeee!! =)
THANK YOU!!!
I do agree with some of your post. Alot of jobs now to require more education. It’s harder for the previous generation because not alot of jobs back then required alot of schooling unless you went into a specific field. People need to stop blaming others for their pitfalls & do something about it. I got the school loans so I can do better, what’s their excuses? You dont always have to go for 4 years either.
@MangoWOW - Except you have to get the right degrees or else you’ll be wasting your time at college. Me, for instance, I want to be a author but honestly, the best I can get is an english degree but even so, being an author is really about luck. And it doesn’t pay good. I don’t want to be in any medical field or even a math like field. I feel like that having a college degree wouldn’t help me because I’d still be working at a part time or full time retail job. regardless of what I’ll be doing. I’ve thought about it many things about it and seriously consider it. College degrees don’t amount up to anything really…in my opinion. Though I’m just stating why my reasons are to not attend college.
OP:
Too bad, I’ll never really go to college =/ Not for me.And not that I can afford it.
Preach it!
@Hinase - Im not talking about everyone becoming a doctor or anything. I’m talking about simply wanting to further yourself or give yourself something to fall back on.
I gave the example of a girl that feels fine working at Victoria’s Secret the rest of her life.Great, How about you take some college level business or management classes and aim to become a manager? Or even own your own store one day?If you feel having an English degree wont help you thats fine. It’s true, ultimately it’s whether whatever you write is good that decides if you get published. But if you asked my dad (who is getting published right now) he’d probably tell you that publishing companies take you more seriously and give your work more consideration if you have some sort of background (whether it be an English degree or just taking SOME college level writing classes) on the subject. It makes you look more credible.
be cool, stay in school
There’s also the fact that getting an education leads to a more informed electorate, which leads to better voters, which is good for the economy and everything else.
I think this is a great post, thanks.
@MangoWOW - I know you aren’t. But I’m just giving you an example of myself. The best I could get is my basics and that’s it. But besides having a degree, you have to have the skill of being a writer. A degree won’t change that. I’m sure that not every author has a degree in english and/or creative writing.It may help but not so much and it doesn’t feel like enough for me to really want to go to college for it..If it was a much much greater chance, then yeah, usually it’s not. I’m sure publishing companies do overlook that kind of stuff if the material itself is great. I’m sure there are expectations or whatnot. It only accounts for a little bit. I just think degrees don’t do anything for a person unless in a specific field that can actually be used in the workforce. That’s just my opinion on it.
@MangoWOW - A community college can be an excellent start!
@MangoWOW - Yeah, what your dad says makes a lot of sense.
@Hinase - Actually, Theo was providing empirical evidence in the form of links, and there’s all kinds of evidence that what he says is true so it’s not so much a matter of opinion here as just reality.
@Diva_Jyoti_3 -Weird, my eyes skipped over the links somehow. O.o Still even with proof, I don’t take it that seriously. For me, statistics aren’t everything. Maybe a interesting point after all. Though I’ll check them out anyhow.
@Hinase - whatever works for you is cool, college isn’t for everybody. my cousin just could not finish, but he’s not dumb he had some learning disabilities or something. Now he’s doing great, but then again, oops, he’s a trust fund baby. But if you’re going to make it as a writer? I think you might have a point if you want to say it’s more about the luck of getting discovered, that is, for the FICTION writer, I mean.
@Hinase - I know what you mean about the eyes skipping over links@ My eyes skip stuff and read stuff wrong at times, it’s a trip.
@Diva_Jyoti_3 - Yeah, it is a trip sometimes.
@Diva_Jyoti_3 - Yeah, it’s not for everyone. It’s not just for me. Though I’m not sure if I would ever want to get published though..I’m so odd lol Though I’ll keep that in mind of course.
@Hinase -
A Chinese idiom says: 書中自有顏如玉，書中自有黃金屋。(Through education one can earn a beautiful woman and a bucket of gold. )
@ClimbUpTreesToLookForFish - That’s an expression, not an idiom.
@ShimmerBodyCream - hell yea
@bAbiiExxPiNay - Thanks! Actually I had thought that “idiom” might not be the correct word.
@GermanWrench - With all due respect, I’m afraid I have to correct you on your response to this post. I am Joe Schmuckatelli, but I took Midget Kama Sutra and Sexual Behavior in The Context of Western Colonial Hypocrisy 101. ;P
DANTHEMAN!
This is the best post I’ve ever seen you do.
Bu-bu-but! It’s SO much easier to blame others for our problems!!
my school is around $2500 a semester. and it’s not a community college. and i didn’t get any scholarships or grants. this is normal in-state tuition (i was from out of state but all i did was apply for in-state tuition and they gave it to me).
you CAN find college that is decently affordable, people just need to look.
if people really don’t want to go to college, that’s their choice. i want to be an elementary school teacher so college is a necessity for me to be able to do what it is i want to do most.
college has always been burned in my brain since i was young. i never even thought twice about it. i just knew that right after high school i would go to college. and i enjoy college. i’ve found a desire to learn that i haven’t had since elementary school.
@MangoWOW - I agree, education is a right and does need to be cheaper!
I don’t think it’s very patriotic of you to encourage people to start competing with the government. Relax and let them take care of us like they’re supposed to, you education mongering fascist.
It seems that people like to blame anything but themselves for not getting a job or trying hard enough to find one.
I wish it were that simple. Actually, sometimes it is. I did do just that, a decade ago. But times have changed. In that decade, outsourcing in my field has become the norm. Even if we produce more college graduates, IT companies will still look ouside the US to hire because they can hire the same educated type person for far less there. Outside IT though, the possibility of raising yourself up through education probably still exists. I see many people taking nursing programs these days. Though in the all-around tough economy, higher education in general becomes even harder to acheive for those who are so inclined.
This is a no-brainer. Americans keep going on about how “exceptional” they are, but won’t do the heavy lifting required to remain competitive in this day and age. Education, infrastructure, and fiscal responsibility are three musts. As an American who has been living overseas for more than five years, I’ve seen this downward trend first-hand. America is losing its competitiveness because all we can focus on are fictitious distractions about the President being a foreigner or a Muslim and other baloney like that.
True. However, there are a lot of children who can’t go to school and have proper education due to poverty, which is sad.
Great point. Sometimes I hear people complain that others are taking their jobs, but I do wonder why they won’t try be more competitive and upgrade their qualifications.
Many of my coworkers only entered Australia a few years ago, but they are good workers – more hardworking and more qualified than I am. I know that if I want to move up in my career I’d have to upgrade my skills and try harder – there’s no other way. The onus is on me.
I, frankly, have little faith in America anymore. Criminals like illegal Mexicans stealing our entry level jobs, and taking over, population-wise, parts of this country, while being granted special affirmative action privileges that reward their criminal behavior, while punishing law abiding citizens and law abiding immigrants, is greatly depressing. Adding to the fears that the violence from those out of control Mexicans in Mexico might spill over into the United States, creates a legitimate distress about those bad Mexicans.
Now, there ARE other factors which affect our economy (aside from criminal foreign gangs invading our country, and stealing our entry level jobs).
While Mexican remittances can be seen as a tax (disregarding the real cost in income lost to those legal citizens who were out-competed for entry level jobs by illegals (because, the majority of that money stays in the economy, somehow (just not at the entry level))) , there are other anti-competitive, tax-like, unfair/inefficient forces at work as well.
There are two parts to the labor market — buyers, and sellers. The sellers are the laborers. And the buyers are the employers — the businesses.
Well, maybe instead of complaining about the enlarged labor pool (due to mexicans, non-retiring seniors, young’ns, etc), maybe we should look at the shrinking employer pool.
Why are businesses closing down? It’s because they are no longer profitable. The costs of doing business exceeds the profit generated, so debt closes them.
Why are the costs of doing business so high? There are several reasons. A big one is the costs of credit. Businesses depend on credit. Another cost is the artificially high cost of real estate. Oddly, credit and real estate seem linked up, in a complicated way. In addition, wage pressures are a factor — and two factors in wage pressures are the money needed for an employee’s dwelling — and the money needed for an employee’s health care plan. These are two costs of wages which are artificially inflated. Real estate is overpriced in much of America. And health care is also overpriced — with the HMO tax ( although, compared to the Illegal Mexican tax (remittances), the HMO tax may well be higher, possibly by an order of magnitude).
But as you pointed out, Author, unemployment at non-entry-level positions, for skilled workers, is lower than unemployment for entry level jobs. So, maybe wage pressures vis a vie health care costs and inflated costs of living is not the main issue — for entry-level jobs. Maybe the illegal Mexicans making things hard for the uneducated fool in a swollen job market IS the real problem — and after all, getting ‘educated’ is increasingly difficult for all nowadays, especially if you are not a beneficiary of some affirmative action program, like the illegal immigrants are.
On the other hand, maybe we have too much red tape for entrepreneurs. Speaking as a potential one, myself, I have to say that it IS hard and expensive (and thus… credit dependent!) to start a legal business in America — at least where I live.
Here’s some bootstrap advice. Influence at home during high school is important here. Career counseling in school could be improved and we still need teachers who have the ability and desire to inspire students. I’m reminded of a couple of very old bits of wisdom: “find a need and fill it” and my dad always said that the more things a person knows how to do, the less chance he/she will be out of a job. Not everyone can afford being choosy and somebody has to be a cashier, just not forever.
In the 15 years I’ve been online, I’ve found the internet to be the world’s largest library, open 24/7, 365 days a year and anyone can soak up as much knowledge as there is time and incentive for. Go for the subjects you are most interested in and build a base, then shape it up in the best and most affordable classroom you can find. There are also work-for credit programs in school plus on-the-job training. You might not make the highest salary there is but you’ll be doing something you enjoy and that will have a positive effect on everything else in your life including your health.
Becoming an informed voter isn’t going to make one iota of difference as long as our politicians are being “bought” by corporations. We need more activism in cleaning house. Hold your senators’ and representatives’ feet to the fire by telling them what you do or do not want and sign every petition you can find that goes along with your beliefs and choices. We need to retake our country! In fact, we HAVE to or we won’t survive as a nation. How come it’s taken an Australian to do a Wikileaks to expose all the dirty laundry that has piled up?
no one can say it better. here here. cheers.
so, a college education is a better answer to unemployment? Well that would certainly be true for the staff and employees of colleges, which would also become an incredible growth industry. How many are little more than “diploma mills” anyway? How many college grads/degreed post grads that can’t find their way out of paper bag? If everyone were to get that education and go for the high-dollar job, who would work in the trades? Would we then farm out the services somewhere? A very nice loop is presented here – a loop full of misconceptions and outright errors, going nowhere.
Jobs do go abroad because it’s “cheaper” to send them. MUCH cheaper.
Education is good, but if you can’t afford it, your children probably won’t be able to either, except with scholarships. It is also possible to make a difference without an education. Unlikely, but it has happened. Those people have been strong willed people who placed their time and effort in what strengths they had and what they deemed important.
It seems we are in agreement.
Which means you are probably kidding.
This is a brilliant post.