U.S. Starving For 4 Yr. College Graduates

We have been predicting this for 2017, and so has the country's leading trainer Anthony Carnevale, for years.
You are going to see this story in major media any month, week, day now. 

Business in this country is starving for four year college graduates.  

We are now seeing some stories that companies have to turn down new business because they don't have the skilled workers.
And the greatest shortage of skilled workers is with the workers who create jobs for everyone else:  the college educated.
The canary in the coal mine might be Denmark, where the economic growth has slowed because of the shortage of skilled workers. 

Here's the telling picture for the United States.  Chart one:  The U.S. has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the advanced world for four year college graduates. 

But it's not that the U.S. just has a low unemployment rate overall.  When you look at people with a two year degree (below) and then those with just a high school degree, the U.S. has a much higher unemployment rate.  The lesson:  Get more two year and high school grads to get a four year college degree.  Business and the workforce is starving for college grads.

Once again the lesson (are you listening business, government and education leaders?): If our economy is to continue to grow and our people to get better jobs and be more prosperous, get more two year and high school grads to get a four year college degree.  

Comments

[William Draves]

Great questions David. All of the above reasons you listed are true. They say the keys are Vocation and Location. If you are willing to change one or certainly both, your chances of a good job go up substantially.

[David Lubic]

Just out of curiosity, how does this square up with the reports of college grads who can't get work in their fields, and are struggling with debt? Did they go into the wrong fields? Do they live in the wrong places (no opportunity)? Are businesses too cheap to pay them what they might be worth? Do personnel people not hire whom they could?

My wife has personal experience with the last one. After losing her job, she took a correspondence course in medical coding. For the results we got, she might have just thrown her money away. Nobody would hire her because the medical people and hospitals all wanted someone with "experience."

But how do you get experience when you can't get hired?

I'm becoming personally convinced it's one thing to know how do do something, but another to figure out how to get paid for it. I think getting hired--or selling a product or service--is an art, a gift along the lines of music or painting.

It doesn't matter what you know or how good your work ethic is if you can't get paid for any of it.