4 ms·
A bit of anecdotal evidence; I graduated university in the UK the summer before last, and "malemployment" as defined in this article applies to almost all of my
by JonnieCache 16y ago
A bit of anecdotal evidence; I graduated university in the UK the summer before last, and "malemployment" as defined in this article applies to almost all of my friends and classmates. I have been very lucky to land a job doing what I love. Many of my newly graduated friends are doing service jobs or doing brainless admin tasks in offices. Most are simply unemployed, they cannot bring themselves to settle for these jobs and would rather sit at home on unemployment benefit. Often these jobs only pay one or two pounds more per week than what they are receiving in benefits.
The worst thing about this situation is the sense of helplessness and having been lied to it instills in young people. We have been told by our parents, rightly or wrongly, for the first two decades of our lives that if we simply work hard in our education we will land well paid, secure jobs. This was the reward for all the hard work at school, and for all the debt uni now requires. Now these kids are graduating, and finding that their £30000 of debt and three years of hard work might get them a job in macdonalds, if they're lucky.
When you combine that with the fact that those responsible for this situation got all their education completely free and were given large grants to pay their way through, you end up with the events of last week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE3IEKWu4rA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE3IEKWu4rA
- patio11 16y agoWas there an option in, say, 1980, or 1990, or 2000 for people with brand spanking new English degrees that wasn't a braindead job in an office? The entry level job mix changed a bit but the character strikes me as fairly consistent: if you have no commercially valuable skills at graduation (and if you majored in English, you probably don't), you get a low-responsibilities job while becoming acclimated to your industry and learning some soft skills.
- JonnieCache 16y agoYou would've been able to get a job as a junior sales/marketing/etc person. Now they will hire you as a secretary if you're lucky. Edit: this was also due to the relatively smaller proportion of the population with degrees at that time.
- gaius 16y agoThe elephant in the corner of the room is that all degrees are not equal. I remember the teachers at my secondary school saying that it didn't matter what you study at university because you are "learning to learn". But even my 17-year-old self could see that that was obviously nonsense. The brutal truth is that you are either studying for a career or you are pursuing a hobby full time for 3 years.
- rdouble 16y agoThe brutal truth is that you are either studying for a career or you are pursuing a hobby full time for 3 years. I double majored in math and philosophy. I wouldn't say my studies were either career prep or a hobby. "Learning to learn" seems like a reasonable way to put it. It has actually worked out great, career-wise. I am qualified for nothing, so I can seek employment doing whatever seems interesting.
- gaius 16y agoIt's certainly possible to parlay a hobby into paying work - musicians, writers, photographers all do it. Nevertheless my point stands: from the perspective of industry, there is no difference between an irrelevant degree and no degree at all, and the evidence for this is holders of those degrees having no advantage in the job market.
- rdouble 16y agoI'm not sure that is true, my math degree has been helpful in getting jobs. The math I specialized in (abstract algebra) was pretty irrelevant to any job I've ever been hired to do. Related, I'm not sure what degree "product managers" are supposed to have. Every product manager I've worked with has had a very different educational background. Philosophy degree, MBA, art history degree, "American Studies," sociology degree, etc.