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Correction
Small correction: The report says "half of the workforce", but this post's headline says "half of the residents".
*Work force, not residents
*Work force, not residents
Thanks, fixed
I wish I could blame lack of coffee, but I had a cup. Guess it's time for a second.
Debt serfs to the education-industrial complex
Lots of words and charts from one statistic.
but the job creators
who us debt serfs are paying their student loans to will trickle down their riches to GED class right? RIGHT?!?!
(Full disclosure: my student loans are paid, I am slave to my house now...)
My admittedly half empty take
1. Is that an official state document ? It does'nt seem to be. If it's not I would consider it dubious or at least slightly more dubious than the official word.
2. More employed people with college degrees could simply equal more people without college degrees unemployed.
3. Practically zero wage growth for high school graduates in the past 38 years. Is that supposed to be balanced or offset somehow by their primary point ? I think it's absolutely shameful, no other way to put it.
Overall: Not as great a report as first blush. Some very unsavory individuals have grown bigly in stature due to too many of our public servants forgetting how to butter anyone's bread but their own. Let's not blow our horn too loud yet.
Would you prefer to be Alabama?
The unemployment rate in MA has been below the national average for decades. The state weathered the 2008 financial crisis fairly well as these things go. Our public schools are some of the best in the nation. We also have some of the best healthcare and other public services.
States in which employment for HS-Only groups is rising is mostly in the energy sector which is highly volatile. Those jobs can and do quickly disappear when the price of gas/oil rises again. At least MA has relatively good public colleges and lots of them.
Sure, things could be better for a number of groups but due to the education level of the residents of the Commonwealth we're the envy of a whole lot of states. I don't see the report as a negative.
We also have a very high cost of living in at least metro Boston
Which makes it extremely difficult for those even with college degrees to start out. I know people with and without college degrees in other parts of the country whose $ go FAR more than they do here in Eastern MA.
.
.
I wonder what the income picture looks like
once you correct for educational debt repayments.
Also, I wonder what the wage picture looks like by state once you correct for local cost of living, especially housing costs. MA and NJ may have some of the highest wages in the nation but they also lead the nation in housing costs.
Especially since
the prevalence of "good" private schools means that there's degree inflation, ex: why hire a UMass kid when you can hire a kid from a higher ranked private school, such that people feel pressured to pay more for the expensive schools.
Or the number of older millenials who have multiple graduate degrees in order to even find a job in a career-track field, and have the debt to match?
One important statistic
The percent of the workforce with a high school diploma or better has jumped from 78% in 1979 to 94%.
It's nice to know that your
It's nice to know that your barista has a doctorate, and the cashier with ten years at Whole Foods is still moonlighting to pay college debt.
Yawn. You forgot the whole
Yawn. You forgot the whole bitching about local organic farmers growing free-range kale bit.
About those Organic Farmers ...
They are often a source of employment for people who do not have college degrees.
That free-range kale isn't going to round itself up, now is it!
Does it matter
You can't teach common sense.
Leaking faucet
In a few years all the yuppies will not be able to find a plumber to replace the washer on their faucet.
Something you should know
Trade schools usually demand a high school diploma and require student loans for most people to pay for them.