A College Degree In Burger Flipping
Diane Ellis, Ed. ·
Sep 12, 2010 at 10:45pm
Another data point for those in the college-degrees-are-worthless camp: In the United States, approximately a third of college graduates between the ages of 25 - 29 work at low skilled jobs.
But hey, at least our "emerging adults" are more successful than Canada's and Spain's!
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Jul '10
Re: A College Degree In Burger Flipping
It's true that far too many young graduates are working below their education level, but look at the other figure: US college graduates' earnings are near the top of OECD figures, surpassed only by Britain. And the high costs of living in Britain basically mean that if you have a college degree, the best place to live, work, earn, save and invest is the United States. Now, I know that doesn't speak to your specific point, but given the low salaries of Japanese young graduates both in low- and high-skilled jobs, plus the general snobbiness of Europeans, I see more good than bad in this chart.
Aug '10
Re: A College Degree In Burger Flipping
We somehow forgot that it's absurd - even insane - to allow the economic base of one's country to disintegrate. Washington D.C. has made America an undesirable place to start and grow a business. Spend billions educating a populace for non-existent jobs guarantees civil strife.
May '10
Re: A College Degree In Burger Flipping
The question boils down to, "A college degree in what?" One can get a variety of worthless degrees on American campuses these days. (Or is that campi? I wouldn't know. I have a worthless degree in Mass Media...)
May '10
Re: A College Degree In Burger Flipping
Spain has had double digit unemployment for years & it currently runs at 20+%. Just getting employed is a challenge. The large majority of college grads hire in at entry level jobs - in the company I ran there until recently, they would come in at 19K - 22K Euros.
We bring Grads into entry level positions in the UK company I currently run at around £22K. As in Spain, if they prove themselves, they quickly move up the ladder.
It is just like in the states where most grads from non elite schools hire into entry level, low paying jobs and work their way up. My daughter is doing this in Cleveland and currently make 150% of what she hired in earning 3 years ago and is slated for another promotion in a few months.
A better measurement would be earning after 5 years in the workforce and unemployment rate versus those without a college degree. While degrees are over priced, I believe they do give a real competitive advantage.
Aug '10
Re: A College Degree In Burger Flipping
Steve MacDonald:
We bring Grads into entry level positions in the UK company I currently run at around £22K. As in Spain, if they prove themselves, they quickly move up the ladder...
A better measurement would be earning after 5 years in the workforce and unemployment rate versus those without a college degree. While degrees are over priced, I believe they do give a real competitive advantage.
Yeah, I myself felt that this graph, while impressive, doesn't say much about the upward mobility of US young adults in those low-level jobs.
Yes, 29 is an age at which, barring life-crises in your youth, you'd expect to already be climbing, and not still on the lowest rungs. On the other hand, we already know our graduates often get out of college late, and that many also want postgraduate education.
The sheer number of Starbucks baristas working through graduate school, writing novels after-hours, or saving up money to start a new life as, say, a naturalist in the Amazon, is astounding. Graduate students, novelists, and naturalists may not add much to an economy, true, but they show that these low-skilled jobs help people achieve their dreams.
Aug '10
Re: A College Degree In Burger Flipping
Can't this be explained as simple oversupply of college degrees?
Take the classic supply/demand "scissors" graph. Add a government subsidy to the supply curve, which artificially lowers the cost and bumps up the nominal supply at any given price point. When that happens, a gap opens up between demand and supply; the usual term is surplus supply, or underutilized capacity. In this case, the thing supplied is educated labor, and underutilization shows up as underemployment**.
If you want to stay with the chart, you might ask "OK, how do we nudge the domestic demand curve up to match the supply?" Arguably, switching from a manufacturing economy to a high tech service economy was an attempt to do exactly that, and the failure to get them to match is a good subject for an entirely different post. But it's also valid to ask: given the data, should we continue to encourage that higher supply?
**Labor is a unique good, in that its supply is less elastic than its demand, so suppliers (workers) are more likely to settle for a lower price than let it sit as unused "inventory".
May '10
Re: A College Degree In Burger Flipping
Hey, I run a burger-flipping franchise(s) and not ONE of my 50 employees has a college degree.
Go Five Guys!!
Re: A College Degree In Burger Flipping
Ryan Gaines: Hey, I run a burger-flipping franchise(s) and not ONE of my 50 employees has a college degree.
Go Five Guys!! · Sep 13 at 1:57pm
I hear really great things about Five Guys! The closest one to me is an hour away (Fremont, CA), but I'm dying to try it so I can compare with In 'N Out.
May '10
Re: A College Degree In Burger Flipping
My husband is a hamburger connoisseur (sp?) and he thinks Five Guys is the bomb!
May '10
Re: A College Degree In Burger Flipping
Diane Ellis, Ed.
Ryan Gaines: Hey, I run a burger-flipping franchise(s) and not ONE of my 50 employees has a college degree.
Go Five Guys!! · Sep 13 at 1:57pm
I hear really great things about Five Guys! The closest one to me is an hour away (Fremont, CA), but I'm dying to try it so I can compare with In 'N Out. · Sep 13 at 2:11pm
I opened stores numbered 14, 44, 68, 123, 236, 344 and 365. There are now over 675 nationwide and I'm sure one will open closer to you soon! I hear In n' Out is good, but when I was in San Diego visiting my brother, he wouldn't even take me to one... said they were "crap" compared to Five Guys! Those were his words, not mine.
The company line is, "We are happy to be in the same area as such an iconic burger joint as In n' Out. I just hope we can live up to the standard they have set..."