Higher Education and the Stratified Society

by William L. Anderson

Recently by William L. Anderson: Obama’s Progressive Goal: Make Us Poorer By Any Means Possible

In a recent column, Paul Krugman called for more federal aid to college students because students are finding it hard to pay tuition. At the same time, he bemoaned the fact that many college graduates today cannot find jobs at all:

You’ve probably heard lots about how workers with college degrees are faring better in this slump than those with only a high school education, which is true. But the story is far less encouraging if you focus not on middle-aged Americans with degrees but on recent graduates. Unemployment among recent graduates has soared; so has part-time work, presumably reflecting the inability of graduates to find full-time jobs. Perhaps most telling, earnings have plunged even among those graduates working full time – a sign that many have been forced to take jobs that make no use of their education.
College graduates, then, are taking it on the chin thanks to the weak economy. And research tells us that the price isn’t temporary: students who graduate into a bad economy never recover the lost ground. Instead, their earnings are depressed for life.