Why are recent grads not working in the fields they studied for?
The goal of most college students is to find a (hopefully) well-paying job related to their field of study after college. However, recent graduates in a post-Covid economy have faced what economists call a “no-fire, no-hire” economy, which is when companies are reluctant to both lay off and hire new employees. Some also speculate that the ubiquity of AI chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude have drastically reduced the demand for entry-level employees, though the long-term effect on employees’ productiveness remains to be seen.
Large U.S. companies have also come under fire for outsourcing and offshoring domestic jobs at a steady rate. The digital world has enabled businesses to communicate with employees at near-instantaneous speeds, thereby widening the pool of applicants for any given job. With applications also being as simple as clicking a single button, job listings often receive hundreds of applications per day, which further frustrates grads’ abilities to find jobs.
Though the job market may seem extremely tough, the digital age has also not emphasized an essential skill for employment: networking. Connecting through friends, family and even social events can present opportunities that will put you ahead of other applicants, even if you are equally skilled.
However, the amount of effort required to get an entry level job in the field that graduates have studied for four years begs the question, “why is this even necessary?” It feels unfair that after students have put in the standard of 120 credit hours, paid tens of thousands of dollars to relocate themselves and have dedicated their studies to these specialties for so long, they should still struggle to find meaningful employment.
Recent generations have long been told that the only path to success is through professional degrees and white-collar jobs, and statistics — historically — have reinforced this position.
Unfortunately, recent statistics released by the New York Federal Reserve show that new graduates have a similar level of unemployment to, if not higher than people without a college degree.
Some may argue that this is because people are getting “useless” non-STEM degrees, but Computer Engineering, Physics and Chemistry rank extremely high in “underemployment” (defined as working in a field unrelated to your degree), at 17%, 35% and 40.6% respectively, with rates of unemployment sitting above average for recent graduates as well.
Due to the debate over whether or not college is actually worth it, a number of institutions are seeing a decline in enrollment. With confidence in traditional institutions being affected by high-profile admissions scandals and the cost of attendance rising, it makes sense that people would choose to skip over a stage that could cost them money and time without much return.
However, many colleges have also dropped their liberal arts curriculum, which is something that I believe to be important. Aside from the “ethics” classes that are often joked about in STEM, much of students’ formation takes place in social situations.
Socratic dialogue and examining opposing ideas are extremely important facets of learning, and though the same credit hours could be spent on a student’s major, the skills gained from engaging and trying to understand the world are arguably just as important when looking at the best outcomes for students.