A Silver Lining for the Educated Yet Unemployed

Last week I met a Stanford graduate who, two years out of college, is working retail. I thought he was kidding. But it turns out that the economy is, though slowly recovering, still not in favor of employment for college graduates. According to a recent article by the New York Times, post-graduate employment rates have been dropping since 2009. As the article points out, most of the jobs that recent graduates can find don’t require the degree over which they’ve slaved for the past four years.

This brings two questions to mind: the first, who is to blame? I understand that the recession wasn’t the fault of one single person, but there has to be a source somewhere. And the second, does this mean that the demise of college name branding is near? If the school title really doesn’t impact the chances of employment as much as it used to, as this New York Times article suggests, then perhaps we’re drawing nearer to the day when people will stop stressing about rankings.

I pose the first question largely because my uncle recently asked me why my generation isn’t completely furious with his, and at the time I couldn’t think of an answer other than “well…we are.” And we are, and it’s hard to clearly point out how we’re retaliating when, for the most part, we’re all still in school learning how to fix the problems the generation before us caused. But to support that his question was valid I point to this exact problem: the current economy – which is not in our hands just yet – is keeping fully qualified college graduates out of the workforce because there simply is no room for people without “real-world” experience (and, in many cases, for those with some of that experience). And that is just not our fault. At what point will we be old enough to take over? We won’t wait forever.

The second question is less answerable, but it may have a bit of a silver lining. Looking at unemployment brings nothing pleasant to mind; what it means is a bad economy and, for unemployed college graduates, a feeling of “well that was a waste” in regards to the amount of time and money spent on an undergraduate degree. When a freshly, pre-professionally educated engineer is turning tables at the local burger joint this feeling of insignificance comes with justification.

But like I said, there may be a silver lining. That the difference between an Ivy League and middle-tier title is no longer the deciding factor between employment and unemployment for college graduates may lead to a boost of confidence for those who have always felt incomparable to the rest. Though I’m far from the end of my experiences with higher education, I have a theory that once in the real world I won’t be able to tell the difference between my own educational background and that of my “competition,” so to speak, in the work force. If this is really the case, this issue with unemployment being unrelated to the name of a graduate’s education may ultimately prove that we have blown competition over college names far out of proportion.