College Graduate Glut De-Rubbished

Let's go back to 2004.

March 29, 2004
Graduate glut devalues price of a degree

Ministers have forecast that 80 per cent of the 1.7 million jobs expected to be created by 2010 will require degree-level qualifications, as well as saying that graduates will earn on average over a working life £400,000 more than people who do not go to university.

However, Professor Brown and Dr Hesketh say that such estimates are — even by the Government’s own admission — based on the “most optimistic” reading of existing data and appear to be overinfluenced by discredited assumptions that the growth of a “knowledge economy” in the 1990s will continue.

They have analysed US data which suggest that just one in five workers has a job which makes use of degree-level education, before going on to question the Government’s predictions that 40 per cent of Britain’s labour force will be in “knowledge-based” employment by next year.

Of course, that was controversial and attempts were made to debunk it.

April 30, 2004
'Graduate glut' claim rubbished

Claims that the expansion of higher education will create a "glut" of graduates who cannot find well-paid jobs are wrong, according to a report on the country's skills gap published this week.

Let's fast forward to last year.

July 17, 2008
The Declining Value Of Your College Degree

For decades, the typical college graduate's wage rose well above inflation. But no longer. In the economic expansion that began in 2001 and now appears to be ending, the inflation-adjusted wages of the majority of U.S. workers didn't grow, even among those who went to college.

That expansion did more than appear to be ending. Goodbye expansion. Hello contraction.

College-educated workers are more plentiful, more commoditized and more subject to the downsizings that used to be the purview of blue-collar workers only.

More plentiful and more commoditized? Isn't that just another way of saying glut?

The issue isn't a lack of economic growth, which was solid for most of the 2000s.

It is now. Further, when I think of solid economic growth I don't immediately picture the 2000s. Other than the dotcom crash, the housing market, and the banking system crisis ruining the illusion of prosperity it was as solid as they come though. I'll grant you that.

And finally, let's check out what's going on today.

May 23, 2009
Some ‘recession graduates’ will have to invent their own future

Only one in five graduating job-seekers had lined up jobs by the end of last month. Two years ago, half of the students who sought jobs had one in hand by graduation day.

And lastly, no talk of college degree gluts would not be complete without mentioning China. The rest of the world competes with them on so many levels, but they also compete with themselves.

April 28, 2009
China Faces a Grad Glut After Boom at Colleges

NANJING, China -- Zhang Weidong has been making the rounds at this city's weekend talent fair for more than a month now and can't understand why he hasn't landed a job.

Could it have anything to do with the 21.5 million students enrolled in Chinese universities in 2008? Words cannot do it justice. If you feel so inclined, the article does include an overhead view of a recent job fair though. Good grief!