Does a college degree guarantee a good job?
In today’s NY Times, columnist and Princeton professor Paul Krugman notes that computer technology advances are undermining the job market for certain kinds of occupations that are identified with college-educated workers.
“It is a truth universally acknowledged that education is the key to economic success. Everyone knows that the jobs of the future will require ever higher levels of skill… But what everyone knows is wrong…”
“The fact is that since 1990 or so the U.S. job market has been characterized not by a general rise in the demand for skill, but by “hollowing out”: both high-wage and low-wage employment have grown rapidly, but medium-wage jobs — the kinds of jobs we count on to support a strong middle class — have lagged behind. And the hole in the middle has been getting wider: many of the high-wage occupations that grew rapidly in the 1990s have seen much slower growth recently, even as growth in low-wage employment has accelerated.”
The full article is at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/07/opinion/07krugman.html
“It’s not what you don’t know that hurts you; it’s what you do know that ain’t so.”
—Will Rogers
Here is a closely-related video on the subject:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPvcCUhkwF8]