The Broken Bargain With College Graduates

The problem is that the economy does not produce enough jobs that require college degrees.

.. One sign of the downshift is that much of the recent job growth has been in lower-paying occupations. Worse, there is little evidence of a turnaround. In the past five years, postings for jobs that do not require a college degree have steadily outpaced postings for those that do.

.. roughly one-third of college graduates who spend their work lives in jobs that do not require a degree

Coal Miners Are Political Canaries

If it’s Hillary Clinton on the stump, she’ll talk about job retraining, new infrastructure, and better education. But if it’s Donald Trump, the answer is simple: He promises to bring jobs back, and punish those who sent them away.

.. Trump tends to focus on what he identifies as the problem—how America has been wronged and who is to blame. Jobs went overseas? End NAFTA. Worried about terror? Ban Muslims. The solution is usually simple: Just stop doing whatever the U.S. was doing before. The community will prosper.

.. His plan is very easy to envision: You’ll have your job back, and your old lives. This is the power of Trump’s blame-based worldview. When curing a community’s malaise is as simple as getting rid of the bad actor who caused it—in this case, Obama’s environmental regulations—the rewards feel more certain, more tangible.

.. The problem is that Trump’s plan has almost no chance of success. A U.S. president has no power to stoke global demand for coal, or pump up the price of natural gas; the most Trump could do is repeal Obama’s environmental rules, and economists agree that would have a minimal effect on employment.

The Most Career-Minded Generation

Compared to 30 years ago, young people today are much more likely to say they’re going to college to secure a good job and steady pay.

.. According to admissions departments’ informational pamphlets, the primary reason for attending college is rather noble: Campus is a place to discover one’s interests and strengths, a place for both personal and intellectual development. But in recent years, another narrative has taken hold—that what matters is return on investment. In other words: What kind of job-market value does a graduate get from a college degree?

.. Twenge said that she and Donnelly sorted the reasons provided for going to college as being either extrinsic or intrinsic.

.. The researchers do note, however, that the reasons to go to college became more extrinsic at the same time and at the same pace as income inequality increased. It’s not conclusive, but, they write, “Millennial students’ focus on making more money may be a practical consideration.”

.. “Education is the only product that the ‘consumer’ seems to want less of (many students would be happy to get A’s for no work). And if the student sees college as transactional—‘I pay my money; you give me my degree’—they are actually getting less of the product they are paying for (an education).