Anyone have figures, not snark or political posturing but figures, on what the change has been in mean per household and/or per capita real income for the country excluding the top 5%?
Also for college graduates over the last 10 to 20 years?
I am struck by the State of the Union line that more are graduating college than every before but also struck by the impression that the jobs that open for college graduates are not all that different than those that required a High School degree a few decades ago, only now with the debt to service. My impression of course may be wrong.
I’ve always had the impression that it’s more along the lines of not that many jobs (some 25% or so) actually require college degrees, but some huge proportion of the workforce has college degrees of some kind nowadays (associate & up). Plus, you have the problem of there being some industries struggling to find qualified degreed candidates.
So you get a lot of college-educated people doing stuff they’re overqualified for and underpaid at because the number of qualified jobs for people with English undergrad degrees is dwarfed by the number of people out there with English undergrad degrees looking for jobs. So they hire the best they can find, and pay them shit, because, well, there are 10 more people just like them who’ll be happy to have that job if they don’t want it. Supply & demand, and all that.
Meanwhile, many STEM fields are importing foreigners because they can’t hire enough local talent.
I will say that as long ago as 1991, it was recognized that a college degree wasn’t a sure ticket to anything; liberal arts and other non-career focused degrees were generally seen as something rich kids did, people who wanted to go into academia did, or something that fools without a clue or plan did.