Perhaps the problem is that people who are destined for a dead-end job are now going to college:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Educational_Attainment_in_...
In 1990 ~20% of the US had bachelors degrees. In 2009 ~25% did.
In the same period, the % of college grads in low wage jobs also went up by about 5% (according to the OP).
Caveats:
1) That second 5% is from the population of grads not the total population, so that second 5% is a lower number.
2) The 5% total attainment measures the full pool, not the delta in the pool as would be appropriate to use in comparison to the recent college grads numbers in the article.
A lot of this "college grads now worse off" seems like partial views of the statistics that ignore the meteoric rise in enrollment over the same period.
One stat I haven't yet seen, that would make a great paper for anyone still in college, is: What percent of these numbers can be explained by higher GI bill usage following the Iraq and Afghanistan wars?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Educational_Attainment_in_...
In 1990 ~20% of the US had bachelors degrees. In 2009 ~25% did.
In the same period, the % of college grads in low wage jobs also went up by about 5% (according to the OP).
Caveats: 1) That second 5% is from the population of grads not the total population, so that second 5% is a lower number. 2) The 5% total attainment measures the full pool, not the delta in the pool as would be appropriate to use in comparison to the recent college grads numbers in the article.
A lot of this "college grads now worse off" seems like partial views of the statistics that ignore the meteoric rise in enrollment over the same period.
One stat I haven't yet seen, that would make a great paper for anyone still in college, is: What percent of these numbers can be explained by higher GI bill usage following the Iraq and Afghanistan wars?