April 26, 2015
Burdened With Debt, Law School Graduates Struggle in Job Market
His business has greatly expanded and he makes $100 an hour, but that is far below what he would make at a law firm. And, he said, “I waffle constantly, but I’m still in the mind-set that I need to find a real job.”
$100 per hour x 2,000 hours = $200k
ReplyDeleteI did the same math. I even read the article (ok, I skimmed it). He of the $100/hr obviously isn't working 2,000 hours as he complains he isn't making near what he would at a law firm and that he should be making $160,000 a year by now, but then maybe math isn't a prerequisite for a law degree I don't know.
ReplyDeleteI'd have happily taken the equivalent of $100/hr out of school for part time work, but then you'd have to value your free time as opposed to material crap, but obviously I'm preaching to the choir on that one.
My girl friend's son is starting law school this fall. He figures he will have $185,000 debt when he comes out. But he is going to a top ten school, actually, it is above five. He will come out with good grades and a job will fall into his lap at the starting pay that all the top law firms provide.
ReplyDeleteIt is the lower level school grads that have a hard time getting a job. Same goes with just a BA or BS. The grads from a better school with good grades gets the good jobs.
It is largely about credentialism. But in the big picture, the supply of jobs is not very promising for the future.
If only they could just lower interest rates to simulate the economy.
fudge_hend,
ReplyDeleteI think the part that got me was the "his business has greatly expanded" part. I took that to mean that it didn't just move from one hour per week to two.
In any event, hard to feel sorry for anyone making $100 per hour.
I do think there is a lawyer glut and an MBA glut too. I do feel sorry for those earning near minimum wage after spending so much on a degree, whatever that degree might be.
Joseph Constable,
ReplyDeleteIt is largely about credentialism.
I agree. It wasn't like that on my career path as much, at least in the 1990s. As a computer science and physics graduate from a minor school, I got a job at a computer game company (which was my goal). There was a test to get the job though.
When my girlfriend needed a car, I got her a nice Volvo. It too can add credentials. Don't think it should but it does.
I have seen first hand that a pilot's license can add credentials for a lead software engineer. The guy was not a great programmer by any stretch of the imagination, but management loved that he was a pilot, well, right up to the point that they had to let him go.