College Graduate Underemployment Essay

College Graduate Underemployment: How Deep is the Hole?

As a college education becomes increasingly favorable in today’s society and college tuitions continue to rise, students and parents alike are beginning to ponder the usefulness of a college degree. Indeed, some individuals argue that increasing costs alongside the overabundance of graduates in the job market show that college education is rapidly losing value. However, others believe that the enhanced starting salaries of college graduates in addition to the skills acquired in the college environment prove that college education is still of great importance. Despite the many advantages and disadvantages discussed, many people fail to recognize one of the greatest factors in the worth of college education: whether graduates actually acquire better jobs. The shocking truth is that a large percentage of college graduates must accept low-skill, low-salary jobs when they cannot find meaningful work. Could this phenomenon play a greater role in the college debate than it is currently given credit?

College graduate underemployment

Abel and Deitz sought to answer this question by calculating the average economic return by bachelor’s degrees in various majors. They found that the lowest return rates were in education majors, averaging a nine percent return overall and seven percent return for the underemployed, additionally noting that the average yearly return from investing in stocks is also seven percent (Abel and Deitz, “Benefits” 7). An investment returning at least the same amount as stocks is usually a sound investment, and college exceeds or meets that amount even when a student graduates with a low-returning major and becomes underemployed (Abel and Deitz, “Benefits” 7-8). When looked from this perspective, the economic benefits of college appear to stand firm even when underemployment is