#JobMarket #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #CollegeDegrees #UnemploymentRate It’s been said that a college degree will open more doors than just a high school diploma. But, according to an article by Sydney Ember in the New York Times, there are fewer employers showing up at college job fairs. In fact, the article states, the unemployment rate for college graduates between ages 22 and 27 surged to 5.6 percent at the end of last year. It quotes an analysis from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. That rate outstripped the overall 4.2 percent unemployment rate at the time. “For those who were employed, more than 40 percent held jobs that do not typically require college degrees, the highest level since 2020,” the article reads. The Times story was also published March 26, 2026, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The job market probably will be in flux for many years to come. With the emergence of artificial intelligence, and other economic factors, jobs will change. The need for people will change. The article also provokes a thought: Though no education is a waste, one will have to think long and hard before committing a lot of money to college in the future. Definitely, if you don’t think you are college material, don’t waste your money, thinking a degree will somehow pay off later. AI can do a lot of things. It can accomplish menial but necessary tasks that seem to waste human time. Robots don’t need bathroom or lunch breaks, vacation time or sick time. Still, there will be a need for humans to repair them when they break down. Machines can copy. They can perform tasks based on past patterns. But, they are no substitute for human intuition, innovation or creativity. Machines also do not need college degrees to perform any tasks. So where does all this leave a young person trying to create an adult life? We’ve gone through uncertain times before. The Industrial Revolution and the invention of the computer changed work for many people. Though some people’s lives radically changed, society survived. This will be another one of those times. We as people may have to rethink how we work, how we make a living and how we advance financially. Progress cannot be stopped, despite the efforts of those who want to take the U.S. back to another bygone era. AI may also change our lifestyles. It will certainly make some chores easier, but it may make other things more challenging. Therefore, it will be incumbent upon us, particularly the younger generations, to rethink how to make a good life. That may mean thinking about whether to go to college. If you decide to go, will the investment pay off? If you have to go into debt to do it, can you pay it off in a reasonable amount of time? And, if you get a job somewhere, how long will it last? What are you going to do when one day you suddenly have lost your job? Despite these potentially difficult decisions, it’s best to stay optimistic. Pessimism and self-doubt can scramble your thought process. Regardless of what you decide, know that AI is here to stay. How can you best live with it? Peter
#colleges #universities #CollegeDegrees #jobs #JobPromotions #CollegeDebt “I was a human resources professional for 20 years. But, I reached a ceiling.” That quote, from a lady in a TV ad for the University of Maryland Global Campus, tells the story of how she has been able to pursue a good career until recently, when, apparently, she no longer qualified for advancement without a college degree. So, the ad says, she went to UMGC to get her degree, and it is paying off. When you couple that story with a column by George Will of the Washington Post talking about the declining value of college degrees, as well as other ads about paper ceilings, it paints an interesting picture of today’s world. As Will points out, some jobs today that don’t appear to require a college degree suddenly require them. Will’s column was also published Aug. 31, 2025, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. In the past few decades, we were all told that a college degree was essential to getting a good job – or, at least, one that would be more likely to put you in an office than outside doing hard physical labor. But, over time, college degrees have become unaffordable for many – so much so that many students had to incur debt that they may spend a lifetime trying to pay. If you are fortunate to go to law or medical school, you are more likely to be able to pay off that debt in a relatively short time, presuming you are successful in either of those professions. But, the job market for other degrees can be a bit unpredictable. If you need debt to finish college, you had better have reasonable assurance of a good income afterward to pay it off. The need for people in the trades, like plumbers or electricians, is much more acute in many places. Those jobs do not require a four-year degree, but they do require trade school, certifications, licenses etc., that are much less costly than college. And, of course, those jobs require sometimes hard physical labor. But, if you are good at your trade and you are reliable to your customers, you can make a better living than a lot of people with four-year degrees. When college degrees were rare among young people, companies hired those with degrees, regardless of what the degree was in, then trained them for the job(s) they wanted them to do. But, on-the-job training is harder – and more costly – for companies these days. They expect their workers to know what they are doing on Day 1. The lady in the UMGC ad probably was very capable of doing the job she was striving for without a college degree. But not having a degree made it much easier for the hiring manager to reject her for that job. Also, colleges pride themselves on their “elite” status in society and community. In today’s milieu, politicians want to cut out that elite status colleges have by threatening their government grants. That’s way too extreme a reaction. It may be best to let colleges and universities conduct business as usual by giving them their research grants etc. They perform a great function in society by doing that work. But, the average student is getting priced out of the college market. The colleges will have to do something to find the balance between teaching and research. The average student may want to rethink his or her life options as he or she decides how to make a living, and what he or she has to do to get there. Peter
#PaperCeiling #WorkQualifications #technology #CollegeDegrees The TV ads call it the “Paper Ceiling.” In a nutshell, it’s the elimination of some people for certain jobs because they don’t have the proper “paper” qualifications. These people may be perfectly capable of doing the jobs because of experience or other training. They just may not have the degree that the specifications require. Now Georgia, and other states, are tackling this problem by trying to ease some of the paper qualifications for certain state jobs. Maureen Downey, education columnist for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, discussed the Georgia situation in her February 14, 2023, column. As she writes, Microsoft founder Bill Gates never finished his degree at Harvard because his ideas were so time-sensitive that he had to act on them immediately. With technology, timing is everything. If you wait too long to develop it, it could become obsolete before it’s even created. Or, a competitor will beat you to it. But, as Downey writes, Gates is a big believer, and funder, of higher education. The so-called paper ceiling has prompted a generation of leaders and influencers to place a high value on getting a college degree. In fact, statistics show generally that people with college degrees do better economically than those who don’t have one. We also hear stories of people who spent a lot on an education, only to get a job that didn’t require it. Of course, education of any sort is never a waste. Where the rub comes is ruling people out for certain jobs they are capable of doing, just because they lack the college degree. The paper ceiling is a convenience for hiring managers. It allows them to sift and sort through piles of applications more easily by ruling out people quickly. But college is not for everyone, particularly those who cannot immediately afford it. People have gone into extreme debt to get a degree. But, once they have it, they may, or may not, get the job they want. And, even if they do, they’ll likely spend a valuable chunk of adult life paying off that debt. There are also many trades and other good-paying jobs that may require technical training, but not necessarily college. These jobs often are in high demand, and workers with those skills can be hard to find. Some believe too many trade schools have been turned into computer schools, and there are too few venues to train electricians, plumbers and other skilled workers. Though computers have infiltrated most modern machinery and appliances, there is still a great need for raw, old-school skills. In short, if you are a hiring manager, don’t underestimate the skills of someone who may not be as well papered as you might like. If you are a prospective employee, don’t hesitate to apply for a job you believe you can do even if you don’t have the paper credentials. You may have to sell yourself better in your application to overcome the lack of credentials. Closed minds on either side may blur good potential. Just as glass ceilings are meant to be shattered, paper ceilings are meant to be shredded. Peter
#millennials #StillLivingAtHome #adults
OK, you’re 20-something, with no job, perhaps a college degree.
Let’s presume you don’t want to be living at home, but you don’t believe you can afford not to.
If you PREFER to live with your parents, that may be a discussion for another time.
Peter Dunn, an author, speaker, radio host and personal finance expert, tells young people to “knock it off,” as the headline reads, and stop laying their financial problems on their parents. He discussed this in a March 29, 2016, column in USA Today.
Dunn says that every late-night pizza, every beer and every other good-time splurge in college contributed to the young person’s financial dilemma.
“Your parents (speaking directly to the young folks) want to cut you off, but are afraid to,” Dunn writes. “It’s not good enough to stop asking for money. You must tell them you don’t need their money anymore.”
Admittedly, the problem is not as simple as it appears. Kids go to college expecting to come out with some kind of job. But, as the last few years have taught us, not only is that not guaranteed, it’s becoming more unlikely in certain fields.
On top of not having a job, the kids may have mountains of college debt lurking in their lives.
Certainly, if you are in college now, you need to be aware that you might not have a job when you get out. The earlier you plan for it, by, say, watching your spending while in school or getting work experience in some area that might employ you when you get out, the better off you will be.
It’s great to love your parents. It’s great for your parents to love you. The greatest love you can show your parents, perhaps, is not to burden their lives. They are trying to save for retirement. Every dollar they give you is one they cannot put to that cause.
As a young person, you can lament that your parents probably had it better than you as far as the job market goes. Or, you can buck up and find ways to support yourself in the current climate.
Believe it or not, there are many ways out there to do that that don’t necessarily involve manual labor. For one of the best, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. You may have to look outside your comfort zone for a solution, but the possibilities are out there.
Let’s look at this from a social perspective. Do you really want to bring a date back to your place with your mom and dad there? Do you really want to confine your personal space to one room? Do you really just want to hang out at home the rest of your life?
A life is certainly worth working for, even if that work may not be exactly what you want to do. You can also find a solution (job) that is temporary, while you think about how you are going to use all those skills and all that knowledge you paid so dearly for. Chances are, you WILL find a use for it, but it may or may not make you a living.
“I’ve come to the conclusion that asking 18-year-olds to commit to tens of thousands of dollars of debt, without a job, income or assets, is among the stupidest things modern society does,” Dunn writes.
We hear that you can only get a good job with a good education. But some of those “good” jobs don’t pay much. If you are going to commit to a college education, have a plan. Know what you are going to do with it as you proceed. Also, beforehand, do the math. Decide whether the education is worth the debt. There’ no shame in deciding that college is NOT for you, or just not worth the financial sacrifice.
Whatever you do, give mom and dad a break. Come home to visit, even frequently. But make your home somewhere out of theirs.
Peter
