The Economy is "Recovering" By Creating More Low-Wage Jobs... Increasingly Filled By Graduates

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/education/economy-recovering-creating-more-low-wage-jobs-increasingly-filled-graduates



Last month, the Department of Labor released new job market numbers, which suggests that the economic recovery is perpetuating the trend of college graduates turning to minimum wage jobs. Though there has been significant employment gains, many recent college graduates have been forced to resort to low-wage, low-skilled jobs. There are now 13.4 million college graduates working for hourly pay, up 19 percent since the start of the recession.

According to the Department of Labor, there are about 284,000 graduates with at least a bachelor’s degree that were working minimum wage jobs in 2012.

In a recent study released by NELP, the National Employment Law Project, the low-wage occupational sector is the fastest growing sector in the economy, even though this sector only lost about one-fifth of its jobs. Meanwhile, the middle-wage job sector—which usually serves as the pathway into the workforce for many recent graduates—was hardest hit, and has been the slowest to recover.

[Cal Carpenter]

1. How low can we go?

Rec'd.

[Arctic Dave]

2. Similar to other countries that used to look to the US for "opportunity".

How many times have we read about the college grad in some other country driving a taxi because there wasn't any jobs unless you were politically connected.

[leftyohiolib]

3. kids are gonna have to leave the country once they graduate

[rhett o rick]

4. Older employees are being replaced by younger. We will soon have a problem

of unemployed workers over 50. No work, no Medicare, no SS.

[kestrel91316]

7. Oh, but you see, they can all just be entrepreneurs and

start their own businesses and become millionaires!

[rhett o rick]

8. Or win the lotto, the new American Dream. nm

[lark]

13. Lower the Medicare age

so these people who want to can retire now and younger workers can be hired so maybe they can move out of their parents house and be self-supporting for a change. Win-win.

[rhett o rick]

17. I am convinced. Convince the Democrats in Wash DC. nm

[dburner1]

5. What A Surprise

Gee; what a coincidence, Unions are struggling to survive and middle class wages are going down. Surprise, surprise.

[woo me with science]

6. It's not a recovery. It's a restructuring,

and it is deliberate.

The proof: Our middle class has been devastated and impoverished. Do you see ANY politicians acknowledging this or treating it as the CRISIS that it is? Any clarion calls to right the wrong? Any acknowledgement at all that it is happening?

No, they are talking about cutting the safety nets.

Have we had enough yet? Enough of the ASSAULTS, and the PROPAGANDA, and the LIES?

Yet?

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Won't stop until

American workers go on sustained national strikes.

That requires organization...

[Arugula Latte]

15. All part of the plan.

Turn 98 percent of the population into desperate servants to the uber wealthy. They can claw each other for crumbs.

Excellent.

[L0oniX]

10. After I get done with business college I can work for Booger King. n/t

[Safetykitten]

11. Two things. Anyone under 30 that stays in the US is nuts. Second,

what I have seen on my downward mobility spiral is that older workers over 50, like me are flooding the market.

[Arugula Latte]

16. It pains me to do it, but I've started to encourage my kids to find opportunities to emigrate.

I think they'll be better off raising their children in a more civilized country.

[BadgerKid]

18. I know someone who has done that

over 10 years ago (in a science related field). I probably could've found a way to do so a few years before that, but I wasn't ready then.

[Comrade_McKenzie]

12. Anyone have a link to unemployment rates by degree? nt

[Yo_Mama]

14. Here

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t04.htm

However I have to tell you that this is misleading, because if you look at just younger workers by educational attainment, the un/underemployment rates are much higher.

Try this for a better picture:
http://www.epi.org/publication/bp340-labor-market-young-graduates/

.538

At the end of that article, there is a chart showing underemployment rates for those under 25. I suggest you look at that. The report also notes that college enrollments haven't risen much even though the prospect for those with just an HS degree is so abysmal, but the reality is that a lot of students are afraid to take on high debt loads.