Americans With More Education Have Taken Almost Every Job Created in the Recovery: Division between "college haves" and "college have-nots"

[SirLinksALot]

SOURCE: BLOOMBERG

URL: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-30/americans-with-more-education-have-taken-almost-every-job-created-in-the-recovery

by: Lisa Du


As the U.S. recovery lumbers into its eighth year, Americans with at least some higher education have fared especially well in the labor market. The less-schooled, however, have found a much grimmer reality.

Of the 11.6 million jobs added since the rebound took hold in 2010,  about 99 percent — or 11.5 million jobs — were filled by people with either at least some college education, a bachelor's degree or better, according to a study by Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce. Only 80,000 spots went to workers with a high school diploma or less, according to the report authored by Anthony Carnevale, Tamara Jayasundera and Artem Gulish.

"It’s not just a factor of a more educated population, it’s how the labor market is changing," said Jayasundera in an interview. "The labor market is demanding a more skilled workforce."

The disparity points to a longer-term change in occupational patterns. Industries increasingly require higher-skilled workers, the authors wrote. In the manufacturing sector, a majority of jobs regained have gone to workers with more than a high school diploma. Technological advancements and automation have eliminated the need for clerical and administrative roles as well as hands-on jobs in sectors like construction, as those areas had some of the weakest job recoveries.

The growing supply of college-educated Americans has also contributed to the stark differences in labor-market outcomes. This year, for the first time ever, the share of people in the workforce with a bachelor's degree or higher education overtook the share of those with a high school diploma or less, according to the study.

The resulting divide between the "college haves" and "college have-nots" will have an impact on the socioeconomic makeup of America.

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[SirLinksALot]

[uglybiker]

How many of those jobs went to grads who are actually working in a field even remotely relating to what their degree was in?

[skeeter]

Considering that GDP grew at less than 2% last year, and half of that amount consisted of increased health care insurance premiums, I reject the premise that the recession has ended.

Plus I've heard that any job growth there has been has been entirely absorbed by the ongoing influx of immigrants.

So the economic picture is quite a bit darker than even this article conveys.

[The_Reader_David]

All this proves is that HR departments use holding a college degree as a lazy way of trimming the applicant pool.  In medieval China, lots of jobs went to people who could pass examinations on the writings of Confucius -- a lazy way of trimming the applicant pool for positions in which an actual knowledge of Confucius's thought had no bearing on job performance -- while those who couldn't were left behind.

[Smokin Joe]

All this proves is that HR departments use holding a college degree as a lazy way of trimming the applicant pool.  In medieval China, lots of jobs went to people who could pass examinations on the writings of Confucius -- a lazy way of trimming the applicant pool for positions in which an actual knowledge of Confucius's thought had no bearing on job performance -- while those who couldn't were left behind.

Does this mean they hired people who were more skilled or more educated?

What sort of "skills"?

I also noticed they blamed the reduction in construction jobs on automation, but frankly, I haven't seen where automation can replace a guy with a shovel, or someone taping drywall. I think there is a failure to acknowledge the sector is depressed.

[DB]

And how many of those on the low end of the education scale were replaced with illegals with even less education???

And then with Obama spending about 7% of the GDP in borrowed/printed money things are even worse. Take that 7% away and see what you really have for an economy. The real economy. Its been all smoke and mirrors for the last 7 years and there's going to be hell to pay.

[EC]

Does this mean they hired people who were more skilled or more educated?

What sort of "skills"?

I also noticed they blamed the reduction in construction jobs on automation, but frankly, I haven't seen where automation can replace a guy with a shovel, or someone taping drywall. I think there is a failure to acknowledge the sector is depressed.

Their robots are a special sort, cunningly designed, with names like Miguel and Pedro.

[The_Reader_David]

Does this mean they hired people who were more skilled or more educated?

What sort of "skills"?

I also noticed they blamed the reduction in construction jobs on automation, but frankly, I haven't seen where automation can replace a guy with a shovel, or someone taping drywall. I think there is a failure to acknowledge the sector is depressed.

It means they trim the pool of applicants by only looking at those with college degrees, even when the job doesn't actually require anything one learns in college.  Whether they then pick on the basis of relevant skills or some other criterion can't be discovered from the facts and hand, and probably varies from HR department to HR department.  (I have a brother-in-law who worked HR for Microsoft for a while and boasted of using what seemed quite irrelevant criteria for hiring programmers.)

[Smokin Joe]

It means they trim the pool of applicants by only looking at those with college degrees, even when the job doesn't actually require anything one learns in college.  Whether they then pick on the basis of relevant skills or some other criterion can't be discovered from the facts and hand, and probably varies from HR department to HR department.  (I have a brother-in-law who worked HR for Microsoft for a while and boasted of using what seemed quite irrelevant criteria for hiring programmers.)

I was just wondering. I have seen highly educated people who should not be allowed around a moving part. I have seen people with little formal education who can do amazing things with metal, stone, wood, or other substances, or the ability to operate a piece of heavy equipment and do amazing things.

I suppose it depends on the skill set people are seeking.